Local produce at the Greenfield Farmers’ Market
Practicing sustainability is important to us, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because we believe our guests give us their loyalty for tackling something that is also relevant and important to them. Local restaurants such as Champney’s are the cornerstones of our community. We have a commitment to environmental and sustainable farming because social responsibility is rooted in our commitment to the community to sustain and improve the quality of well-being for all we serve.
Right now our area family farms are questioning the new food safety rules that federal regulators want to introduce that threaten to force small agricultural operations out of business.
One of the proposed rules, for example, is that farmers would not be allowed to apply manure to their fields at least nine months before harvest, meaning that, given the growing seasons in New England, they wouldn’t be able to use a field for one whole growing season.
Clarkdale Orchards, Deerfield
The regulators are also proposing weekly tests on river water sources used for irrigation for any farm, such as our Deerfield Bars Farm or Clarkdale Farm, that harvest and then pack or hold their produce.
The Bars Farm, Deerfield
The Bars has been in the same farming family since 1820, and Herb says action should be based on science, not on screwball ideas!
How sad it would be if the local family farms that have been growing food for generations, are brought down by the economic burden of regulations! We would not like to be obliged to buy from huge industrial farms thousands of miles away.