Your help is needed to save Blue Sky Organic Farms – https://blueskyorganicfarms.com
They are looking to buy or acquire a long-term lease on 40 to 100 acres close to 189th Ave. and Camelback. Without a place to go they will begin to shut down operations at Blue Sky starting in April 2021. They need to turn over the 25 acres they have been leasing from the dairy in June of 2021. That will leave them with 10 acres that they own – mostly buildings and infrastructure and a bit of farmland – which will be less than useful if they have no product to process and pack and not enough to grow food on.
The loss of this farm would be a blow in so many ways – to local agricultural traditions, to farmers markets in the valley – Blue Sky sells what they grow at four of the main markets in central Arizona, as well as a loss to their 600 CSA members, and the families they serve through their store, a loss of a very talented organic grower and of community-minded friends and colleagues, a loss to restaurants, schools and stores, as well as food banks, low-income housing projects and senior centers who relish and are grateful for the opportunity to offer pristine local veggies, and even a loss to outlets like Sun Produce Co-op, which have been steadfastly working to create a larger demand / niche for local food here in our state.
Blue Sky has been a pillar of the Arizona farming community for 27 years. Without its continued existence we can’t begin to imagine what the future of smaller-acreage vegetable crop production looks like here, nor the opportunities to grow future farmers.
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP: If you know of 40 acres or more of arable farmland near 189th Ave. and Camelback, that is available for sale or lease mid-to long-term and has water rights, and / or would like to provide funding support for the lease or purchase of such a place, please contact Sara at [email protected] or call 623.266.4031.