A Jamaican Farmer Growing Resilience on Flood-Prone Land

About Ras Farm

Ras Farm is a Jamaican immigrant-led vegetable farm run by Courtney Whitely, who has farmed in Western Massachusetts for over 12 years after many years working as a farmworker on larger farms. Ras Farm operates across leased sites, including 4.2 acres in Northampton and 2 acres in Belchertown, MA. The farm grows fresh vegetables such as squash, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, pumpkin, and winter squash, alongside culturally important crops including okra, callaloo, Scotch bonnet pepper, and Jamaican pumpkin. Courtney’s farming is grounded in the belief that soil work is also soul work. Tending land requires spiritual tuning to the living world. Ras Farm serves farmers market customers, grocery cooperatives, mobile markets, wholesale buyers, free food distributors, elders, and migrant communities seeking culturally familiar foods. As climate change makes portions of the land more flood-prone, Ras Farm is working toward resilient, diversified, tree-supported farming rooted in care.

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