By Margaux Maxwell

Taza Chocolate is a local favorite, featured at many Farmer’s Markets throughout the city and beyond.

When Daniella Jean Pierre, 32, goes to the Somerville Winter Farmers Market, she is greeted by the sight of lights strung up on the light violet ceilings, the sound of acoustic guitar played on a small stage, the smell of freshly cut flowers, and the excitement of hands extending outwards filled with vegetables and crafted goods for her to navigate through.

“I was tired of the dispassion and the long check out lines of the supermarket,” says Pierre, a resident of Back Bay.

Although Somerville may make Massachusetts seem like a haven for local foods, in a city where every convenience can appear to support an increasingly globalizing agricultural economy, for many Boston residents it is often difficult to find options that support the local farmer. For many, navigating those options may present an even larger challenge.

“I’m still learning how to talk to farmers to get what I need,” says Daniel Tom, 32, of Cambridge.

Rebecca Davidson, Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program Coordinator at the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resource, makes some suggestions with her top 10 ways Boston residents can support MA agriculture:

1. Visit the MassGrown and Fresher portal to your browser to have easy access to agricultural events and activities happening across the state as well as lists of restaurants who buy from local farms.
2. Visit a farmers’ market once a week or once a month.
3. Invest in a local farm by becoming a member of a CSA.
4. Use your Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at a participating farmers’ market near you (some markets will double your SNAP dollars).
5. Sign the petition to sponsor the MA Agriculture Sponsor License Plate and support beginning farmers.
6. Spend the night at a Farm Bed and Breakfast. Learn more at: http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/agritourism_farms.htm
7. Visit a Pick Your Own Farm. Find one nearby: http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/map.htm
8. Drink local wine, beer, liquor and hard cider.
9. Eat at a Farm to Table restaurant. Link to restaurants that buy local: http://www.farmfresh.org/?zip=02120
10. Ask your grocery store if they have local produce available – then enjoy it

“Getting to know local farmers and learning about which vegetables are in season can be fun,” said Davidson.

Davidson also suggested the Boston Public Market as an alternative to your supermarket, located conveniently above the Haymarket MBTA station on the Orange Line and currently offering a delivery option by bike.

To learn about delivery to your home from the Boston Public Market, visit: www.evergreendelivery.bike.

The Market has over forty-five vendors and claims to have the strictest local sourcing requirements in the country.

Newly opened in July 2015 after nineteen years in the making, the Market offers locally made baked goods, beverages, dairy, meat, seafood, produce, prepared foods, and specialty items.

But vendors at the Market voiced that navigating the local foods economy is further consumers’ confusion about buzzwords such as local, organic and sustainable.

“We sell honey here and consumers often ask if our honey is organic,” says Evan Reseska, 22, who works on a family bee farm with apiaries throughout Massachusetts, New York, and Georgia.

“When our bees get sick, we doctor them with formic acid, a naturally occurring substance in ants. Technically this means our honey is not organic, so when customers hear that they automatically think that our honey is somehow less valuable or somehow bad for them, when we are actually using really good practices,” Reseska says.

There is no consensus on a definition of “local” or “local food systems” in terms of the geographic distance between production and consumption. But defining “local” based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers’ markets or to schools, is well recognized.

Katie Park, 34, of Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, VT, says, “when the cows get sick, we doctor them, in other words we don’t let them die and this makes our products nonorganic. I think it’s better to have a mix of organic and nonorganic practices.”

Harlow’s Vermont Farmstand is the only certified organic farm at Boston Public Market, yet she echoes that this does not mean that her growing practices are somehow better.

“Organic certification is really expensive…so some farm operations can’t invest in the certification,” says Erin Wright, 30, assistant manager at Harlow’s.

Still many say your local farmer is there to help you make your next soup, or understand how your food got from the ground to your plate.

“Everyone is really friendly here and has been happy to explain everything, they have been involved in every stage of production,” says Daniel Tom, holding a bag of sweet potatoes, prepared to go home and make some sweet potato muffins to share.

Hear from your local vendors:
Why is local agriculture important to support?

• Local farming stimulates the local economy. Many farms in Massachusetts are the oldest farms in the country, so supporting them means supporting old family businesses and participating in your culture. – Nick Pepper, Red Apple Farm, Phillipston MA
• Local business keeps the profit of the sale in your region, eventually bettering that region. – Taza Chocolate, Somerville MA
• Transportation modes that only operate locally minimize fossil fuel use otherwise spent on shipping costs. – Taza Chocolate, Somerville MA
• Nurturing a relationship with between you and your local farmers creates a connection within your community. – Erin Wright, Harlow’s Vermont Farmstand, Westminster VT
• There is a freshness factor that cannot be bought at most supermarkets, where food is not picked at its peak ripeness. – Soluna Garden Farm, Winchester MA
• Your local farmer can give you a chance to know where your food comes from and who makes it. – Katie Park, Jasper Hill Farm, Greensboro, VT
• Buy from an individual, not a corporation. – Katie Park, Jasper Hill Farm, Greensboro, VT

Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled “organic,” a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.

The term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:

• Satisfy human food and fiber needs;
• Enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends;
• Make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls;
• Sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and
• Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

Sourced from www.USDA.gov