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Buy Fresh, Buy Local

New Entry is interested in promoting sustainable agriculture through providing fresh, delicious locally grown produce to the market. We develop programs which allow for consumers to find food they enjoy which is grown by farmers who they know.

The "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign is in use by over 50 communities nationwide. Campaigns involve outreach materials, advertisements, and point of purchase materials, to make it easy to find and buy fresh, local food and farm products and show support for local farms.

Where to Buy New Entry Products

New Entry growers sell their vegetables to most of the ethnic stores and restaurants in Boston, Lowell, Fitchburg, Worcester, Revere, Newbury, Lynn, Acton, Amherst, Natick, and Framingham. Additional produce is available at farmers' markets in Newton, Lowell, Lexington, Worcester Common, and in the Boston area at Arlington, Brookline, Dorchester, Cambridge, Somerville and Revere. Many of the New Entry farmers sell their produce through the World PEAS Coop. For information on Massachusetts farmers' market locations and hours of operation, visit the Massachusetts Farmers' Markets schedule.

Marketing is a critical component of the project. The farmers are required to develop a marketing plan to address all phases of their business development including production, financial planning, land use, and harvest and post-harvest handling. The project trains its participants in marketing skills, including pricing, promotion, customer relations, and display. Value-added products are encouraged. The Hmong veggie rolls offered at the Brookline Farmers' Market made their way onto a local "foodie" website called ChowHound's. Now, that's when you know you've made a serious impression!

Each farmer grows 30-50 different kinds of vegetables. These vegetables include American summertime favorites like tomatoes, peppers, corn, and summer squash that shoppers know and love. Shoppers also tend to recognize crops like boy choy, napa cabbage, Chinese broccoli, lemon grass, pea tendrils, collard greens, kale, and okra. Asian and African ethnic crops, however, will challenge the knowledge and culinary skills of market shoppers; daikon, water spinach, yu choy, squash blossoms, tomatillos, bitter melon, yard long beans, African eggplant, cassava, kittely, and palava sauce are often new and tasty treats for cooks to experiment with.

Other Buy Fresh, Buy Local Resources

Visit the websites below for great information regarding opportunities to Buy Fresh, Buy Local

FoodRoutes Website
http://www.foodroutes.org

FoodRoutes is a national organization, which promotes locally-grown food. They sponsor the national "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" initiative. FoodRoutes Network of Regional Chapter Affiliates and Local Volunteer Chapters work within the community at the state and local levels to involve more consumers in the revitalization of our local food systems. From farmers' markets, restaurants, grocery stores, co-ops, and community supported farms to large scale institutions - such as colleges and retirement homes – "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" Chapters are bringing back the base for locally grown food in communities across the US.

Visitors to the FoodRoutes site can get information about starting a FoodRoutes "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" chapter in their area. The chapter program allows organizations to receive professionally designed templates of logos, brochures, posters and price cards for use by your organization.

Also, visitors to the FoodRoutes website can use an interactive clickable map of the U.S. to access their extensive database of farms, CSAs, restaurants, and farmers, markets in their area. They also have a national events calendar, and provide resources for farm-to-school programs.

Southeastern Massachusetts Agriculture Project
http://www.umassd.edu/semap

SEMAP is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help agricultural enterprises in southeastern Massachusetts achieve economic success. They are one of 50 organizations in the country who have launched the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign to promote local food trade. SEMAP has set up a system where buyers can connect with sellers of local food through buying a listing in their directory. The program also involves facilitation of face-to-face connections between buyers and sellers. Also, visitors to SEMAPs site can purchase membership in their "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign, and receive official "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" outreach materials for posting in their businesses. Check out their on-line farm guide if you want to locate outlets for specialty foods, pet food, seafood, dairy, eggs, meat, spreads, wine and liquor, and wood.

Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture
http://www.buylocalfood.com

CISA links farmers and communities to strengthen agriculture and enhance the economy, rural character, environmental quality, and social well-being of western Massachusetts. CISA promotes purchase of Massachusett's farm products, and their site includes a searchable catalogue of farm products, farms, farm events and CSAs in the Western/Central Mass region.

LocalHarvest
http://www.localharvest.org

LocalHarvest is a national site, which provides consumers with resources to connect them to farms, CSAs, farm stands, farmers markets, and restaurants in their area. Also, the LocalHarvest Store brings the products of family farmers home to you. While their farmers focus on selling fresh produce and meats directly to their local communities, many of them offer some of their products via mail order through LocalHarvest. The site currently offers 4,647 local farm products for sale. The site also has a frequently used forum for users who wish to connect with one another in areas such as finding CSA partners, available land, use of commercial kitchens, etc.

NOFA's Organic Food Guide
http://www.nofamass.org/programs/ofg/index.php

NOFA's organic food guide is published both on-line and in hard copy. The guide lists organic food, farmers, retailers, restaurants, and service providers across the state of Massachusetts. The on-line guide has a clickable search feature. If you are familiar with the name of a farm but don't know the location, or are looking for all the businesses in a certain town, Simply enter a keyword in the search form.

NOFA/Mass has also made available a handy Local Availability and Suggested Food Preservation Guide. If you would like to find out when a particular crop comes in season here, or what to do with it once you have it, this guide can help.

Berkshire Grown
http://www.berkshiregrown.org

Berkshire Grown envisions a community where healthy farms define the open landscape, where a wide diversity of fresh, seasonal food and flowers continue to be readily available to everyone, and where we celebrate our agricultural bounty by buying from our neighboring family farms and savoring their distinctive Berkshire harvest.

The site is a nice resource for local farms, farm stands, CSAs, farmer's markets, flower and plant farms, food producers, pick-your-own, and restaurants in the Berkshire region.

Food Project
http://www.thefoodproject.org

The Food Project creates fertile ground for new ideas about youth and adults partnering to create social change through sustainable agriculture. Their goal is to promote sustainable, local food systems that bridge race, class, age, and more to ensure food security for all.

Capay Organics farm fresh recipes
http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/recipes/

Recipes are added on a weekly basis, which use seasonally fresh produce. The site includes an extensive database with recipes, which are sorted by main ingredient.