Red Tomato

CONTACT:

1033 Turnpike St.
Canton, MA 02021
781-575-8911
www.redtomato.org

Michael Rozyne, Co-Director

DESCRIPTION:

Everyone knows that locally-grown produce is fresher, more nutritious, and better-tasting. It's getting harder to find in local supermarkets however, even in peak season, because small farmers are squeezed out by huge agribusinesses importing cheap produce from remote states or abroad. This issue has many dimensions and values—health, science/technology, economy, culture, and ecology.

Red Tomato was founded in 1998, to "reinvent local food systems" as a philanthropic broker/distributor of ecologically-grown fruits and vegetables from family farms in the Northeast. The idea is to consolidate in a single system for supermarket buyers, distribution of a wide range of produce from many local and regional farmers, thus strengthening the local food economy. Its first several years were devoted to refining the concepts; its first full season was 1999, and sales were $205,000; in its second (2000) season, sales more than doubled to $463,000. 2001 sales were 50% higher, with 30 stores receiving three direct deliveries/week (i.e., no layover at a regional warehouse). The goal is to become over 90% self-sufficient by 2009. You of course can speed this up, by helping Red Tomato move to a new location with larger facilities, to handle more produce from more farmers. This is a fascinating new approach to an old problem, and what it needs now is a few donor-investors. How about it?

(2001: HUMAN SERVICES: Well-Being)