The Food Project

The Food Project is a non-profit organization that employs teenagers on farms in Lincoln, Roxbury and the North Shore of Massachusetts.

[1] The youth are recruited from urban areas of Boston, Lynn, and surrounding suburbs to plant and harvest crops for sale at Farmers' Markets and CSAs, and donation to local hunger-relief organizations and homeless shelters.

The program is 8 weeks long (now 6.5 due to budget), beginning in late June and ending in August to coincide with the Massachusetts public school calendar.

In addition to doing farmwork and harvesting, all crews also work in local hunger-relief institutions like the Pine Street Inn, Revision House and Urban Farm and Rosie's Place, where they help serve food cooked from the vegetables they grow.

Selection and volume depends on the time of year, but freshness is frequently unmatched by standard retail vendors because the food can be consumed immediately after harvesting.

The Food Project's 400 member CSA Farm Share program offers fresh vegetables, herbs and flowers and has pickup locations in Lincoln, Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington and Jamaica Plain.

In 2004, The Food Project was supported by the Cirque du Soleil through a donation of tickets to their Varekai Benefit performance at Suffolk Downs in Boston.

The Food Project receives support from a variety of local and national private foundations, corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, and other institutions.