Farmer Spotlight
As the owner of Atlas Farm, Gideon Porth is part of a growing community of local agricultural producers working to connect people to their food sources. What started as a 2.5-acre plot has grown over 20 years into 120 acres of organic, sustainably managed farmland. The operation includes production fields, greenhouses, staff housing, packing facilities, a main office, and farm store.
Atlas Farm operates year-round, harvesting from fields and high tunnels during the spring, summer, and fall, and from greenhouses in the winter. This practice is part of their goal to change the paradigm of industrial agriculture — confronting the economic and environmental consequences of shipping produce around the world. Because they grow year-round, Atlas Farm is able to provide the surrounding community with fresh and local produce, even in the depths of winter. Throughout the fall, UMass serves tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, and more from Atlas Farms.
Sustainability Efforts
Atlas Farm is working to become a 100% bio- and solar-powered farm. On-site solar projects meet the full electrical needs of the farm store greenhouses, and supplement cold storage. The farm envisions future charging stations for electric vehicles and tractors. An on-farm biomass system provides heat for the main farm’s greenhouse, packinghouse, office, and labor housing.
Waste reduction is another way that Atlas Farm confronts climate change. They donate over 100,000 pounds of fresh produce each season to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Most of these donated vegetables are seconds, which cannot be sold due to small size, irregular shape, or cosmetic blemishes — but still great to eat. Tomato seconds can be found at their farm store in their organic tomato purée. They have implemented reusable packaging containers and have diverted thousands of wax boxes from landfills.
Atlas Farm has been highlighted by the American Farmland Trust for their innovative sustainable practices for their work in reducing tillage, a practice which aerates soil and reduces weeds, but can degrade soil health over time. The American Farmland Trust writes. “Flooding in 2023 tested Atlas Farm’s experiments with teff, a fast-growing summer cover crop. Where bare soil aisles washed out, teff held firm, preventing erosion. The farm also saw strong squash yields from strip-tilling into living clover, proof that soil health practices can pay off even in tough years.”