Grow Food Northampton

Grow Food Northampton is creating a just local food system in Northampton, MA. We do this by both responding to the immediate needs of community members experiencing food insecurity, and providing long-term, foundational solutions to food insecurity. Our mission is to build a just local food system that nourishes our community and protects and enriches the earth. Our work includes 3 core components: 1) land access & stewardship; 2) food access; and 3) community education. We: • Provide access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally relevant local food; • Steward & offer productive and sustainably-managed farmland to community gardeners and farmers; • Mobilize community members to exchange knowledge about gardening, farming, & the building of a just local food system; and • Dismantle oppressive systems & structures in our local food system & shift power to community members most affected by food insecurity. Our work is guided by the core values of community agency; environmental stewardship; and social, economic, and racial justice. We own and steward a 121-acre organic Community Farm where we: • Lease low- and no-cost farmland to 10 small farms and farming collectives (including four farms owned and operated by farmers of color and refugee farmers); • Run a 320-plot organic Community Garden, approximately 30% of whom receive subsidized or no-cost plots to grow food for themselves and their families; • Operate a Giving Garden that grows thousands of pounds of food annually for community meal sites; • Grow extensive fruit and nut trees and bushes for community foraging; • Conduct collaborative research projects on climate resilience-enhancing agricultural practices; and • Provide extensive land- and food-based education programming for children and adults. All of our food & land access programming is guided & steered by our Food Access Advisory Committee comprised of individuals harmed & marginalized by the conventional food system.