In The Spotlight: Grouten Farms

Since 1974 Grouten Farms has been offering residents of the Farmington Valley community high-quality, farm fresh produce. Leo Grouten, a third-generation farmer, got his start with vegetables at just 11 years old, and has worked hard to expand his family's farming tradition. The annual harvest has grown to include peppers, pickles, cucumbers, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, beans and corn!

Over a span of about 8 years, Grouten Farms has donated more than 161,000 pounds of perishable produce to Foodshare for distribution to our hungry neighbors. And last year Foodshare even piloted a local VAP program with Grouten Farm - VAP stands for Value Added Processing. Many farmers have a surplus of crops at the end of a season that they are unable to sell. Rather than plowing it under and  letting this nutritious food go to waste, Foodshare reimburses the farmer for the cost of picking, packaging and transporting the produce to Hartford. This enables the farmer to make a completely tax-deductible contribution at no added expense to himself or his business!

Through this new partnership, Leo harvested 38,155 lbs of fresh, sweet corn in 2011 and delivered it to our facility at the Hartford Regional Market. With such a great success, Foodshare plans to expand this program with Grouten Farm for the 2012 growing season and offer the option to other local farms as well!