Buy food from a local farm

Summary: Local Farms, CSA

Description

Local Farms

Harvard has over 50 small farms.  The three biggest, Carlson’s, Doe and Westward, have about 500 acres of agriculture. The rest, mostly small farms of 10 acres or less, account for 1000 acres. Preserving our farms means less housing development, less trees removed, less driving to buy farm products and less of a carbon footprint. By supporting our local farms we are not only maintaining the character of our town, we are helping our neighbors and reducing our carbon footprint. Many of our farms offer unique products, organic produce, and good conversation. To find out more about some of our local farms, go to Harvard Grown. And to hear one small local farm’s story and how they are adapting to climate change, go to Harvard's Community Voices.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Joining a CSA or buying food at a local farmstand are wonderful ways to eat both seasonally and locally while making the commitment to supporting a local farm. A CSA means buying a share of the crops the farmer grows before the growing season. The cost of the share provides financial resources to the farm to purchase seed, greenhouse supplies, and soil amendments. It provides guaranteed income and moral support to the farmer that the community values the farmer’s goods and services. Most CSA’s advertise their program in the late winter. Harvard has at least one CSA.

Deep Dive

Local food has fewer "food miles", which means fewer miles that food is in transit, usually in refrigerated trucks. Conventionally distributed food is often said to travel 1,500 miles from farm to plate, which is responsible for 5 to 17 times more CO2 than local and regionally produced food. Beyond transportation, the majority of food emissions happens during production. 

You can address the production part of the “foodprint”  by buying local. Small farms often use fewer pesticides, rebuild crop and insect diversity, enrich the soil with cover crops, create border areas for wildlife, and produce tastier and more nutritious food. Many small farmers are even working on sequestering carbon!

Steps to Take

1. Check out where some of Harvard local farms are and give them your support: Harvard Grown
2. Consider a CSA. Westward Orchards offers a CSA.
3. Take your family to the farm for picking crops in the field -- encourage youngsters to connect with how their food is grown and support a local farm's operations.
4. Let us know how it went by leaving a Testimonial under the tab above.