As a countless number of WNY’s restaurants flounder through the pandemic, the ripple effects are felt near and wide. One of the industries that is feeling the pain is the farmers. While restaurant owners have scaled back their orders, and farmers markets have seen smaller crowds, farmers are being left out in the cold. One of these farms, considered a backbone of the farm to table movement, is Tom Tower’s Farm. Owner/farmer Tom Tower is someone who has been pushing to reconnect people to farm fresh foods, and for the most part, it’s been working… until now.
Just yesterday, a BR reader sent along a message stating that Tom Tower’s Farm is in trouble, and is seeking help from the community to keep its barn doors open.
From Chelsea Pelsone, who is orchestrating the crowdfunding campaign:
I have worked at Tom Tower’s Farm Market for 15 years. Tom & his crew have been honored to farm the soils of Youngstown, NY and serve the local community with homegrown fruits and vegetables for almost 50 years. Agriculture has been the Tower family’s expertise for the last 206 years.
However, the farm and Tom’s livelihood are in jeopardy. The last few years have been extremely challenging, especially this past year due to Covid-19 & extensive crop failure. This has severely impacted the business, putting your local farm and the market at risk of potentially closing its doors. It breaks my heart to even think that there potentially may not be another growing season for our farmer at the edge of the village of Youngstown.
Over the last 15 years, I have seen Tom work from dawn to dusk, and have been inspired by his commitment to his land and his customers from across WNY. I have also personally witnessed his generosity countless times, whether it be him donating apples to the local food bank, providing free field trips for local students to the orchards, or randomly doing a free giveaway of special produce to a customer.
To continue our pursuit of farming, & educating the importance of ‘no farm’s, no food’, we are in need of your support. As difficult as this is to ask of people, we do know the importance of COMMUNITY, & we are hopeful that with your help and support, we can continue our legacy of farming next year and for many years to come. Tom has always believed that it is valuable to a community to have local retail farms.
“In my dad’s generation, the farm was only a half-step away, and everyone knew someone on a farm, but with each generation, it’s a step further away. We’re all responsible for each other – that’s what I believe.” – Tom Tower, considered “a spokesman for WNY agriculture”
Without Tom Tower’s Farm in our lives, WNY would never be the same.
To contribute to the GoFundMe effort, click here.