Sedum,
Would a CSA solution be possible for this farmer if so I would be happy to intervene and make a connection with my CSA farmer. Time of course is of the essences, but I think if your community was aware of the situation they would jump in and buy shares. Let me know. kt

Last year, there was a new nursery in the next town over. I finally got around to going there one day and I thought it was incredibly lame. They had two tables of rather dead looking plants that were on sale. They had a nice tree, but they wanted over $500 for it. It wasn't worth that and I couldn't imagine who they thought they were catering to. There wasn't much else of interest, and no mulch or anything else like that. Then one day my husband came home and said the nursery was gone. I don't know if they are permanently gone or if they just closed for the season.

runktrun - so what is a CSA solution? Is there something you could point me to?

circa1825 - what you describe can be summed up is that most new businesses fail in the first 5 years. It sounds like the place you describe didn't know the customer. In the Arena Farms case, they have been a fixture on Rt 2 for a long, long time. So it is sad to see it happen to a business that has been around so long and one that offered good stuff for sale. It sounds like they ran into trouble over extending themselves and then to have the last 2 seasons be bad in the garden nursery business to boot! I just dread the day that all the specialty nurseries can't complete and the only plant selection is from the box stores or discount stores or ordering online...

Sue

Sedum, CSA - Community supported agriculture - here are a few MA links to CSA but I will say there are far more than listed. My offer and suggestion would be to connect two small farmers in Ma and hopefully they could support each other and find a solution.

http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp

Here is a link that might be useful: NOFA- MA

How sad about Arena Farms. I remember my mother always stopping there on the way home for corn and veggies. At that time, there were several farm stands with their own cornfields on either side of Route 2 in Concord...

These are hard times for family owned agriculural and horticultural businesses. Weston Nurseries, Laughlin's (which, thankfully, was bought by the Mahoneys and added to their successful garden center setup) and now Arena Farms.

So tragic to see a business mishap cause a chain of events leading to forclosure. That's what happened with Laughlin's. They were a well respected business for decades, then one bad thing after another (storms, floods, etc.) took the financial legs out from under them until they had to sell.

As the finances are stricken, you see the typical decline in products and services. It's inevitable. It's not that the owner and staff are getting sloppy, it's that they don't have the cash flow to keep their high standards. But it becomes like a vicious circle, with the drop in quality driving away the customers who could help bring it back.

One can only hope that if these businesses are forced to sell, then it will be to another hort or ag business, and not to developers (as happend with Weston N.) who will raze hundreds of acres and slap up condos and clubhouses.

Cady I had forgotten about Laughlins.... It was a place I definitely enjoyed shopping at for many years but after the fire they took a big financial hit and like you described things just snow balled until they were forced to sell. All isn't lost for Arena Farms. They still have a chance to renegotiate with the banks as the article mentions into the middle of July. I hope others in the area at least will stop by and give them a chance to get some of your spring garden purchases. Of course with the spring we've been having.... don't get me started!

Sue

I stumbled across this website and blog while searching for farms/farm stands for sale in the metro west area. I do not know much about Arena Farms, but it sounds like it has built a very strong community presence and it would be a shame to see it go away. Myself and my partners are interested in buying a small farm/fruit & vegetable stand operation and would like to consider Arena Farms. I would be most appreciative if anyone could pass along any information on the current owners, foreclosing timeline/dates/attorney and auction dates. Additionally, if anyone would have any interest in participating as part of our investor group, and help keep Arena Farms in the Concord community, please let me know.

Knowing Arena Farms well, as it is located on Route 2 here in MA, this will be a major loss to agriculture in the suburbs of Boston. I assume that the APR (Agricultural Preservation Restriction) has been considered and due to land values the community can not take on it's share of the bill to buy the preservation rights. That is about the only way, with the exception of Private foundation funding which might be available... I'd consider that seriously.

So sad... Arena Farms was sold to a nearby private school.

See the article below (free registration on www.boston.com required)

Here is a link that might be useful: Arena Farms Closing (Boston Globe)

I realize you have to keep up with the times, and the times
demand ever bigger, but WHY did Arena feel the need to
expand so much and borrow all that money? I'm sure they
werent getting rich from the business, but they seemed to be
doing fine, had a loyal & appreciative customer base,
already owned the land and buildings (so far as I know).
They certainly werent greedy or looking to compete with the
mega-nurseries. Sometimes it seems owners of successful
small businesses just seem to get bored with business-as-usual and want to shake up the sameold. Successful restaurants must be the best example of this.

Not saying this applies in the Arena case, but I just don't get it.

From what I remember hearing, they were hit by a perfect storm of misfortunes..several very bad growing seasons in a row right after they had borrowed some large sums, and they were never really able to recover from it. It is very sad but very indicative of the struggle of small scale agriculture in our region..