LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT.

• Author: Campbell, Bradley

One of the highlights of my summer is passing a morning perusing stalls at one of New England's farmers' markets. Amid piles of sweet corn, cartons of glistening cherries, and booths overflowing with crispy cucumbers and leafy basil, I am reminded of the bounty of local farming and how critical it is to our regional economy. Without local farmers growing cucumbers and corn, among many other crops, we'd have no alternative to buying produce trucked in from massive industrial-scale farms--or worse, flown in from the other side of the world.

Local farms are a fundamental way to connect communities through a shared love of healthy food. Locally grown food also comes at a much lower carbon cost, since transporting food regionally emits fewer emissions and generates far less food waste. (Most of our region's lettuce still originates in California, for example, and much of it perishes before you can buy or serve it.)

And the burgeoning interest in climate-friendly farming practices--which build healthy soils, increase biodiversity, and sequester more carbon in the soil--can improve our farms' ability to bounce back from climate impacts and help lower our region's...