In these lonely and scary times, it is so uplifting to read that the local community is stepping up to help each other.
Mary Byrne’s recent article about the Sunderland Farm Collaborative delivering locally grown produce to people stuck inside due to the pandemic was especially uplifting. As someone who eats a lot of produce, I have been concerned about how I was going to both practice social distancing through avoiding grocery stores and still eat the healthy foods that I love to eat.
The Farm Collaborative is an amazing solution for someone like me. A great additional impact of having produce delivered to my door is the reduced environmental impact of my weekly grocery shopping. This farm fresh produce wasn’t flown in from halfway around the world, it wasn’t sprayed with tons of pesticides, and it wasn’t produced on deforested land like most of the produce from chain grocery stores.
This story also got me thinking about how larger corporations could really learn a thing or two from smaller, local businesses that are more connected to the community. Right now, corporations like Stop & Shop are stepping up to protect us from and supply us during the coronavirus pandemic by creating special times for at-risk people to shop, and hiring thousands of people who recently lost their jobs. However, they could do even better by thinking of ways to improve their services that would not only keep people safe from the current pandemic, but reduce their environmental impact at the same time. Stop & Shop should consider buying more of its produce, meat, and dairy from small local farms rather than giant agribusinesses like Cargill.
Hayley Berliner
Northampton