History
Directions
Contact Information
People
Job Opportunities
In the News
CFO Newsletters & Reports
About Community Farms Outreach
 |
Mission
Community Farms Outreach promotes local agriculture through growing and distribution practices that are socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable. We forge relationships between people, their food supply, and the land from which it grows.
Vision
We envision communities in which sustainable agriculture plays a central role in creating universal access to the food and beauty of local farms.
Strategic Plan
Approach
The 2007-2009 Strategic Plan calls for Community Farms Outreach to focus resources on the refinement and growth of the programs based at Waltham Fields Community Farm. We believe this is a realistic yet ambitious plan rooted in the strengths of the organization. As the first step toward furthering our Mission and Vision in Waltham and its contiguous communities, we intend to build our existing programs through increased capacity and ensuring a sustainable infrastructure.
Impact
We will work to realize our mission and vision in several important ways during the next three years. Guided by the goals, objectives and activities laid out in this Strategic Plan, at the end of 2009, Waltham Fields Community Farm will be offering three-season educational programs on the farm to many more local young people; working with strategically-recruited volunteers whose first experience on the farm will be a gateway into further engagement with WFCF; distributing free and low-cost produce to a more economically and ethnically diverse population of Waltham residents, whose receipt of that food will expose them to other opportunities for engaging with WFCF; and providing a variety of ways for the larger community to learn about farms and local food through regular public events on the farm. These activities will serve to build Waltham Fields Community Farm into a community asset whose survival our friends and neighbors will want to ensure.
All of these activities will be made possible through the operation of a sustainable, highproduction vegetable operation. The Community Supported Agriculture program at WFCF will be enhanced over the next three years through increased shareholder retention focused on Waltham and contiguous communities; more sophisticated communication systems; increased opportunities for community building and education for shareholders.
Waltham Fields Community Farm will also maintain and expand its commitment to local farms and farmers through the recruitment and training of new farmers each year; new distribution partnerships with other local farms; and on-going support of farm preservation in the region.
Through this three-year investment in the programs of Waltham Fields Community Farm, Community Farms Outreach will position itself solidly to consider the larger impact possible beyond the farm in years to come.