Grow Food Northampton’s mission is to create a just and resilient local food system that nourishes our community and protects and enriches the earth.
We own and steward the 121-acre Grow Food Northampton Community Farm where we:
- Lease low-cost farmland to 10 small farms (including four farms owned and operated by farmers of color, including a collective of 16 Somali Bantu refugee families);
- Run a 320-plot organic Community Garden for over 400 community members, more than 50% of whom receive subsidized plots to grow food for themselves and their families;
- Operate a Giving Garden that grows thousands of pounds of food annually for donation to local food pantries and community meal sites;
- Conduct collaborative research projects with academics and others on sustainable and climate resilience-enhancing agricultural practices; and
- Provide extensive land- and food-based educational programming for children and adults.
Grow Food Northampton also:
- Conducts the Community Food Distribution Project that supports local farms by buying their produce and delivering it to community members experiencing food insecurity while also conducting healthy food knowledge and nutrition programming;
- Owns and produces vibrant year-round farmers markets that offer over 30 local farms and other food vendors a venue to connect directly with customers;
- Runs a SNAP Match program to more than double the spending power of SNAP recipients on nutritious local farm products at our farmers markets;
- Offers heavily subsidized Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares to SNAP recipients so they can receive weekly farm-fresh vegetables from Crimson and Clover, the “anchor farm” on the Grow Food Northampton Community Farm; and
- Ensures that all of our food access programming is guided and steered by our Food Access Advisory Committee and Participant-Staffers, individuals with lived experience of food insecurity.
Organic Community Gardening and Affordable Farmland
The Grow Food Northampton Organic Community Garden
The Garden provides space, resources and support for over 250 community members to grow their own food organically.
Crimson & Clover Farm
Crimson & Clover Farm is Grow Food Northampton's "anchor" CSA farm, enjoying a 99-year lease on 40 acres for sustainable production of vegetables, fruits, and livestock. Crimson & Clover has…
Sawmill Herb Farm
In 2013, Sawmill Farm leased 1.5 acres near the Grow Food Northampton Organic Community Garden and grew greens and herbs. The farm has since expanded to 3.5 acres and shifted its focus exclusively…
Joe Czajkowski and Lakeside Organics
Joe Czajkowski is a third generation vegetable farmer, and one of the best-known names in Pioneer Valley agriculture. In 2014, Joe subleased the East Field at Northampton Community Farm from…
Song Sparrow Farm
To grow nutrient dense food, we work on the hand scale and orient our practices toward optimal holistic soil health. Through the frame of celebrating life, we mimic ecosystems within…
New Family Community Farming Coop (NFCFC)
NFCFC started about 3 years ago. It encompasses a group of Somali Bantu farmers from Springfield and Connecticut. Farmers are refugees from Somalia. They mainly grow: corn, collard greens, water…
Straw Hat Farm
Andrea Dustin began Straw Hat Farm in 2022, born out of a love for home gardening and a passion for food access. Andrea was previously employed by Grow Food Northampton…
Hill-Ross Homestead
Jacqueline and Lance purchased Hill-Ross Homestead in 2016 to house their 5 children, design-build firm, two dogs and a cat. Over the past 6 years, they've worked at remodeling the…
Flowerwork Farm
Flowerwork Farm is a small, no-till, regenerative farm specializing in fresh cut flowers grown for the local community. We grow beautiful annuals, bulbs, perennials and flowering shrubs and trees. We…
Food Access and Farm Education Programs
Our Goals
- Increase the supply and accessibility of space for food growing and of locally grown food.
- Educate the community about sustainable agriculture and help residents gain the skills and resources to grow food organically.
- Support the development of a vibrant, local, agriculture economy.
Our Beliefs
- Broad access to high quality, nutritious, locally grown food improves community health and reduces health inequalities.
- Food security is an elemental long-term investment for our children.
- A strong, diversified local food economy strengthens our food security and increases our resilience in the face of economic instability, climate change, energy depletion and other possible threats.
- Independent small-scale farms that directly feed their communities dignify both the farmer and the consumer; farmers with a direct stake in the local market are more reliable, efficient, and accountable; consumers who are intimate with their food chain and their farmers will respect and support them more effectively.
- Successful agriculture looks to the past and the future: it studies lessons from our farming history, embraces new research into sustainable practices, critically examines current agricultural paradigms, and fosters farm-based and food-based learning in the entire community.
- Farmers deserve access to affordable farmland and local markets, and should have the opportunity to build equity in their enterprise.
Recent Posts
Thank you!
Thanks to the generosity of the Grow Food Northampton community, we met the Fall Matching Challenge goal! 312 donors helped…
Fork & Spade with Francie Lin: Building community access to local food
By Francie Lin, GFN Writer-in-Residence I think everyone would rather forget the early pandemic days — the isolation and upheaval…
Donate Today to DOUBLE Your Impact!
A group of GFN supporters has offered us a challenge. They will match every donation dollar for dollar, up to…
Holiday Box Distribution: Celebrating the Harvest
We at Grow Food Northampton understand that Thanksgiving is a holiday fraught with problematic origins. Commemorating an autumn feast between…
Northampton Fifth-Graders Learn About Florence’s Abolitionist History
This fall, Grow Food Northampton together with the David Ruggles Center hosted 5th graders from all the Northampton Public Elementary…
GFN Community Farm: A Farm For and By the Community
By Francie Lin, GFN Writer-in-Residence As a non-farmer, my idea of farming has always been limited to one of two…
Fall 2022 Workshops at the Community Farm
This fall we will host several workshops at the GFN Community Farm at 140 Meadow Street in Florence. Details below:…
Workshop- Living History: Stories of Silk
Living History: Stories of Silk Sun, July 31, 2022 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM Space is limited, registration required Purchase…