Newton Community Farm (NCF) suffered a significant and disturbing theft between 7:30PM last Thursday night and 7AM Friday morning. Many plants were uprooted from the fields, and about ten trays of seedlings were taken from the greenhouse. NCF Executive Director Sue Bottino estimates that the theft involved multiple people with a truck and that the thieves were looking for specific crops.
According to Bottino, the thieves apparently targeted scallions, eggplants, and almost fully grown basil, among other plants. “They trampled other plants to get what they wanted. Most of the plants we lost were seedlings. The plants they pulled out of the ground need to be replanted right away.”
“In our 18 years of managing this City-owned property, we have seen nothing like this,” Bottino said. “No other community farms around us have experienced this.”
“We grow food for the community — for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) sharers, for farm stand and farmers’ market customers, and for donation to the Newton Community Pantry and Freedge — and when someone takes something from the farm, the community suffers,” she said. “While the current value of the lost seedlings is in the hundreds of dollars, the value of the lost produce resulting from them would have been in the thousands. We can’t just replant. We have a pretty specific planting schedule for the farm based on the weather and the time of year.”
Bottino is grateful for the outpouring of support that NCF has received since the theft. “People are so mad, so frustrated, and they want to help. We’ve been inspired by the messages. So many say ‘NCF does such great work.’ Five or six other farms have offered seedlings and labor — even at their busiest time of year.”
Donations to support NCF could be helpful in several ways, including increasing security, acquiring more seedlings, providing more staff time for growing, and acquiring replacement produce from other farms to fulfill NCF’s commitments.
“We’ll recover,” Bottino said. “It could have been worse. This did not occur before our seedling sale, which is a significant source of our income. And no one got hurt.”
“We will do our best to make sure our community has plenty of fresh produce this summer,” she said. “The theft will affect how much of certain crops we have to offer since planting is done based on weather/timing and now we don’t have much of some crop varieties ready to mature in the field, but we continue to grow seedlings, plant in the field, and harvest for the rest of the year. We may need to buy seedlings and/or produce from other farms to supplement what we have available for sale and donation in the near future.”
Bottino noted that the Newton Police Department has provided advice on increasing security and will increase surveillance of the perimeter of the farm. “We are taking measures to increase protection of our staff, crops, and our infrastructure and equipment,” she said. She asks the community to “be on the lookout for anyone who suddenly has hundreds of plants going into gardens or is offering lots of plants for sale” and to report suspicious activity or leave anonymous tips at 617-916-9655.
