photo by Kendra Michaud

Waltham Fields Community Farm (WFCF) has three components to its Sustainable Agriculture Program:

Waltham Fields Community Farm (WFCF) is a successful model of community farming and farm management.

WFCF has been a sustainable partner as a tenants of UMass for more than two decades at the UMass Field Station in Waltham, Massachusetts and nearby at the Lyman Estate as a tenant of Historic New England for more than 15 years. WFCF is curretn;y seeling a long term lease with the Cityof Waltham, the new landowner at 240 beaver Street.

WFCF operates and manages a vegetable, flower, and herb farm using organic principles. The farm site is situated within a larger parcel of 29-acres that has a rich and fascinating history that informs its current use. In 1921, prominent Waltham philanthropist and dairy farmer Cornelia Warren, specified in her will that the property be used for agricultural and educational purposes. Subsequently, the site was conveyed to the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts). From that time to the present, the property has hosted numerous agricultural and educational programs.

The reclamation and transformation of dormant fields once used for scientific crop research into a productive urban farm has restored the land to its historical roots as a working farm.

Consistent with our mission, Waltham Fields Community Farm has integrated charitable and educational programs within the community farm model. The development of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, a Mobile Outreach Market and a Produce Rx program, lends new dimensions to the project, enhancing the economic viability of the farm while providing shareholders and community members of all income levels, the opportunity to engage with their local farm and be nourished by its harvests. This model also provides an opportunty to support our charitable, educational, and land preservation projects. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, one that strengthens community bonds as shareholders become members invested in the mission.