Sprinkled generously with trees, a pond and wetlands, hay continues to be grown on the property maintaining the agricultural designation Situated in a beautiful viewshed spanning from the High Line Canal and Three Pond Park on the north to Kent Denver’s 160 acre campus on the south, there are unobstructed, breathtaking mountain views. Explore the report and register for an upcoming webinar here.Check back often for more content, photos and videos as work is completed!Ĭlearview Farm was purchased six years ago with the vision to preserve this expansive 15 acre property in Cherry Hills Village as a working farm. This new report, a collaborative project between National Farm to School Network and Colorado State University, with generous support from CoBank and AgriBank, examines the economic impact of local purchasing and provides new insight into the potential for farm to school procurement to positively impact local economies. It’s a win for students too! Learn more about the economic impacts of farm to school and benefits to farmers in our new “ Economic Impacts of Farm to School: Case Studies and Assessment Tools” report. In the end farm to school is not only a win for Clearview Farms. Children deserve better (lunches)!” Rick and Diane are proud of the fresh, healthy, and local produce they are able to provide the students of Worcester. “There are so many schools and kids who need lunches and also farmers who need to move product. But as it turns out, smaller sized fruit is perfect for students. Before working with schools, Clearview Farm did not have a market for selling small peaches and apples. It's schools that have become one of his most reliable and valuable customers. In addition, Rick added that a few years ago his farm stopped selling at the Boston farmers markets after seeing several years of declining sales. We also sell veggies to the school’s summer feeding program.” Prior to selling to Worcester Public Schools, Clearview Farm’s relied more heavily on selling to medium sized grocery stores, but with so many other farms selling in that same market, competition was heavy.
"But I can bring a truck load of apples in (to schools) and they will use them that day. “I’m too small to work with huge markets like Whole Foods and other grocery store whole-salers," he says. Clearview Farm has been engaged with farm to school for eight years, and Rick explains that selling to schools has provided his farm a valuable and necessary market. Today, they sell those apples and peaches to the Worcester Public Schools, the third largest school district in the state, by the truckload. When Rick and Diane moved to the farm in 1989, it was all apples, so they diversified by planting peaches. Rick has always seen diversity as essential to the farm’s operation. Additionally, the farm grows twenty acres of pumpkins, along with diversified vegetable production for an on–site farm stand. The farm includes apple and peach orchards for a u-pick operation, as well as hosts school tours that bring hundreds of students at a time to the farm. In fact, this century farm - two times over - was the inspiration for the classic children’s poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Situated just outside of Boston in Sterling, Mass., Clearview Farm’s 85 acres grows a diverse array of produce for diverse markets, including local schools. Clearview Farm has been in Rick and Diane Melone’s family for 265 years.
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