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Buy Food from a Local Farm

Category

Food

Impact

Cost

Low

Why? Buying food at a local farm stand or joining a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture, are wonderful ways to eat both seasonally and locally while making the commitment to supporting a local farm. Local also means you will be spending your money on local people, who will, in turn, spend it locally. You also help to keep local land in production. And you get to meet the person who actually grew or prepared your food. Ask them, do they use pesticides or herbicides on their fields? What feed do they use for raising their animals? These farmers will gladly answer your questions. 

How does a CSA work? Buying a full or half share – depending on the number of people you are feeding –  means that you are pledging ahead of time, before seeds are even in the ground, throwing your lot in with that of your farmer. The farmer gives you a schedule for your weekly summertime and fall pick up at the farm. The cost of the share provides financial resources to purchase seed, greenhouse supplies, and soil amendments at a time when most storage crops have long been sold and consumed. The moral support that a CSA provides is significant because farmers know that members of the community value them, and the coming harvest, for their contribution to our mutual sustainability. 

Local CSAs 

Littleton Community Farm, Foster St, Littleton, Vegetable CSA.

Old Frog Pond Farm, 38 Eldridge Rd, Harvard, offers a fruit and vegetable CSA. It is one of few Certified Organic Orchards in Massachusetts that in the fall offers pick your own apples and raspberries.

Small Farm, 184 Gleasondale Rd (Rt 62) Stow, Vegetables in season, CSA.

Markets

FreeBee Market: Every few weeks in the summer and fall, FreeBee Market offers free food, plants, books, and other donated items. On the grass of the UCC Boxborough church, friends and neighbors gather to share information and free goods. The UCC church often posts information about the FreeBee Market.

A-B Farmers Market: Did you know about the Acton-Boxborough Farmers Market? Starting in June, the market is open Sundays from 10:00 am to 1pm at 19 Elm St, Acton, MA 01720. Many regional growers bring their produce and goods to entice you.

Buy From Local Farms

We are surrounded by local farms. Here are a few in Boxborough and adjacent towns. If you have a farm or farm product and would like to list it here, please reach out to the Sustainability Committee.

Applefield Farm, 724 Great Road, Stow, MA 01775. They offer produce at the A-B Farmer’s market and supply Debra’s Gourmet, West Concord, MA. They open late April.

Balance Rock Farm, 104 Highland St., Berlin. Grass-fed beef and lamb, chicken, pork, eggs, farm store.

Burroughs Farm, Boxborough, Vegetables in season.

Carlson Orchards, 115 Oak Hill Rd, Harvard. Apples, cider, peaches and nectarines. Pick your own or buy from the store. One of the largest orchards in Massachusetts, it has cut its utility bill 80% with a $1.1 million 220 KW ground-mounted solar array: an example of how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Littlefield Farm, 394 Littlefield Road, Boxborough. Fresh Eggs.

Shaw Dairy Farm, 204 New Boston Road Dracut, MA 01826. Home delivery; farm store; Ice Cream. Shaw Farm operates a 400 KW ground-mounted solar array to “provide the greatest reason for our long-term sustainability.” .

Stillman Dairy Farm, 991 Lancaster Ave, Lunenburg. Grass-fed dairy, beef; farm store.

Ridge Hill Farm, Boxborough and Shirley. Grass-fed Black Angus Beef.

Steps to Take

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Deep Dive

In New England we are rewarded with many local farms, many of which have been family-owned for generations. Buying directly from the farm brings needed income to farmers, while saving on grocery cost. There are several farms in Boxborough and surrounding towns, offering meat, vegetables, fruit, and specialty products such as honey and maple syrup.

Local food has fewer “food miles” on it, which means fewer miles spent in a refrigerated, polluting, gas-guzzling truck to get to your table. According to this source, in the US, 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. But now, many products come from other continents, and can lead to destruction of forests and natural habitats.

According to the US EPA, all agriculture was responsible for roughly 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. This breaks down into several sources, including livestock, crops, fertilizers, manure management, and several smaller areas. Transportation is considered a relatively small part of the overall emissions (just 11 percent nationwide as a fraction of all agriculture) but since New England is at some distance from where most grains and fruit are grown, any opportunity to buy locally will have a greater impact. Also, our region has plenty of natural water to supply crops and livestock, as compared to other parts of the country that must rely on purchased water supplies.

Beyond transportation, the major greenhouse gas contributions from agriculture are methane from livestock and manure management, and nitrous oxide (N2O) from industrial fertilizer. While the methane is typically part of a closed cycle, it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and should be minimized. Refrigeration, packaging, and distribution also contribute to the climate costs of food. 

You can address the production part of the “foodprint” as well by buying local at the market, because local farms are small farms and small farms more readily adopt climate friendly practices such as regenerative agriculture. They 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!

Local, and hence decentralized production, also reduces food safety risks, as long-distance food can potentially be contaminated at many points on its journey to our plates.

See the EPA website on this topic for additional resources.

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