New England's Best Food and Fun
So Close to Home:
Why Locally-Grown Produce is a Great Choice
We are fortunate enough to live in one of the most beautiful and fertile places in the country. The Connecticut River Valley is home to a bounty of small farms, each one cultivating its own specialties to delicious perfection. Like these local growers, Big Y is committed to providing nothing but the finest, freshest and most delicious fruits and vegetables to our customers. And we re proud to partner with New England farms who feel the same way. Our goal is to bring our shoppers the largest variety of locally-grown produce you ll find in one place.
Why should you buy local? There are so many reasons:
Freshness.
Fruits and vegetables grown on local-family farms don t have very far to go to reach your table. Sometimes they re picked and at the store for purchase on the very same day!
Flavor.
Because they re harvested at the peak of ripeness, locally-grown fruits and vegetables are bursting with flavor and grown simply to be the tastiest they can be.
Variety.
Small, local farms have the flexibility to grow small plots of more specialty items, along with heirloom and unique varieties.
It's Good For the Local Economy.
Locally-grown produce helps communities thrive. Every dollar spent on locally-produced food is a dollar that remains in your community. In fact, studies have shown that each dollar spent locally generates two dollars in income!
It's Green.
Buying locally-grown produce is good for the environment and reduces the use of fossil fuels. Did you know that the average piece of produce travels around 1,500 miles before it reaches its final destination? Since many of our fruits and vegetables come right from our own backyard, we re able to conserve hundreds of gallons of fossil fuels.
The next time you're browsing Big Y's garden-fresh produce department, take a closer look at our bounty of locally-grown selections. Whether you choose snapping-fresh sweet corn, ripe juicy peaches or velvety soft lettuce, you're sure to see and taste the difference that cooking with locally-grown produce can make.
At Big Y we're committed to working with locally-grown businesses and farmers. We support CISA, Harvest New England and Connecticut Grown Look for the I'm Local logo for products grown or manufactured near you.
There are so many amazing small farms in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Bringing their produce to our customers is something we're pleased and proud to be able to do. Of the dozens of local growers we've partnered with, here are a couple that we d like you to know better:
E. Cecchi Farm - Feeding Hills, MA
Big Y has been getting delicious vegetables especially tomatoes, summer squash, corn and cabbage from the Cecchi family for more than 60 years. Their produce is picked and trucked to stores every single day!
Meadowbrook Farms - East Longmeadow, MA
Sweet summer corn, red ripe tomatoes, summer melons and juicy strawberries are the specialties at Meadowbrook Farms.
Happy Valley Organics - Whatley, MA
This all-organic farm supplies lettuce, peppers, potatoes, squash and herbs to Big Y. Once it s harvested, it s on our shelves the very next day.
Lyman Orchards - Middlefield, CT
Lyman Orchards grows a wide variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables everything from apples to pumpkins.
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Visit Big Y’s Patisserie for a delectable selection of fresh-baked seasonal sweets!
