Atlas Farm Store Renames to Long River Produce Market

COURTESY OF LONG RIVER PRODUCE MARKET

Long River Produce Market is a local farmstand in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, with a strong commitment to selling produce sourced from within a 200-mile radius, with much of their produce sourced from Atlas Farm. 

They also run a community fund program within the market, where all customers who need it have access to a set amount of money to buy from the store, all donated from customers and local organizations. They maintain relationships with several community organizations where they directly donate produce to local kitchens, and have been working on a farm-to-school program in Deerfield and surrounding towns. Emphasizing their commitment to access to food, Hickey noted, “We have a 50% off section of day-old things that are like getting a little ugly but are totally fine to eat, and we have bulk ordering prices where you can get deals for ordering a little bit more.” 

The South Deerfield farmstand formerly known as Atlas Farm Store changed its name to the Long River Produce Market, after Atlas Farm owner Gideon Porth opted out of signing the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge, a nationwide coalition opposing “Israeli apartheid and occupation.”

Current owner of Long River Produce Market, Kelly Hickey, bought the farmstand from Porth in 2021. Hickey called the sale “an attempt to get the farm focused only on growing,” and to allow the store to run as a wholesale venue and market. Before purchasing the farmstand, she worked as a manager under Porth.  

Last summer, Hickey and the farmstand signed the Apartheid-Free Communities Pledge, which, according to the Apartheid Free website, states that those who sign “join others in working to end all support to Israel’s Apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.” The Pledge is convened by the American Friends Committee and several groups. 

The organization considers the war in Gaza to be “apartheid,” which is defined in international law as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons,” as deemed by the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.

As of May 5, 2026, the pledge has 1187 signers, including businesses, artists and municipalities across the world. The pledge has caused controversy around activist groups against antisemitism, such as the Combat Antisemitism Movement, who sent a letter to the municipality of Brampton in Ontario, claiming that the pledge “will cause real harm to Jewish residents of Brampton” and that “the council has chosen symbolism over responsibility and division over leadership”.  

According to café manager Molly Merrett, Long River found out about the pledge “from some other organizations ... and through being an activist with this cause.” She noted that the pledge’s “anti-apartheid” statement felt “really very important to [her].” 

As a pledge organizer, Merrett also spoke about how she tried to get other businesses in Western Massachusetts to sign the pledge. 

“I thought it would make sense to ask my workplace to sign the pledge as well,” she said, adding, “We’re a values-driven business … and that drives a lot of the choices that we make as a store.” 

“It felt like something that was important for us to do to show solidarity with our Palestinian neighbors,” Hickey said. “We wouldn’t be dropping products from the shelf because everything we carry is local anyway.”

Porth, in response to being approached with the pledge, noted that he wasn’t comfortable signing Atlas Farm’s name. “I’d be the first to criticize Israel and the Netanyahu government and the war in Gaza, but there’s fault on the other side as well, and I couldn’t get on board with it,” he said. 

When Hickey found out this fall that the farm wasn’t aligned with signing the agreement, she decided, after a series of conversations with Porth, to change their stand’s name.

According to Porth, Hickey had made an agreement before the initial shift to working independently in 2021 to change the farmstand’s name to avoid customer confusion around the ownership. For Porth, he felt that since he and Hickey were operating separately, it made more sense for them to operate under different names. He said that, until recently, Hickey never followed through in renaming the stand.

Since signing the Apartheid-Free agreement, Long River, according to Hickey, hasn’t experienced any staff changes, and the responses have been relatively mixed. 

A few customers, Hickey said, have chosen to shop elsewhere—but some, she said, felt they aligned with Long River’s decision and recently began shopping at the farmstand for the first time. She said she “can think of three people who said, ‘I don’t agree with this,’” but also that “there are many more people who had maybe never heard of us who were really appreciative of taking a stand.”

On the other side, Jewish Rabbi Benjamin Weinar, in an opinion piece for the Greenfield Recorder, wrote, “It’s hurtful that this store, a place that meant so much to me and my family, and others in my community, is being turned into yet another polarizing and hyper-politicized arena.” 

Porth noted that “despite [their] difference of opinions about the topic, there wasn’t any real bad blood,” and their “working relationship hasn’t really changed.” Currently, Atlas Farm and Long River Produce Market maintain the same working relationship and contract, now under different names.