Photos by Michael Piazza

This row of produce where I am standing features carefully placed beets, turnips and salad greens. To one side, a 100-square-foot greenhouse full of melons, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and okra. To the other, a line of two types of cabbages flanked by basil and cauliflower.

A few steps beyond both permanent raised beds sit Asian pear trees brimming with soon-to-be-pickable fruit.

All of this fresh, sustainably grown produce could net some solid profits at wholesale or retail farmers markets across central Massachusetts, but that’s not the point of this Rutland farm. Welcome to the Agro-Eco Project, a commercial-turned-nonprofit venture off a narrow, tree-lined road. 

Take a spin around your local grocery store’s produce section and you won’t find the variety like you do here. The purpose of this land is twofold: It sets a local precedent for high-quality produce farming and the surrounding community directly benefits from its nutritious results. 

“What we do here is good for the body and good for the soul,” says farm manager Katie Greger. “What we do here is good for everybody.” 

ITALIAN ROOTS, CENTRAL MASS MADE 

Studying for a sociology and political theory master’s degree at the University of London, Agro-Eco Project’s owner Giulio Caperchi thought he’d become a professor. But a two-year gig with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in sustainable agriculture planted the seeds for a years-later blossom.

Learning about the farming practices of the indigenous and Andean communities in South America inspired Caperchi. Working alongside the esteemed Frances Moore Lappé in his next role at the Cambridge-based Small Planet Institute opened his eyes to the potential negative impacts of industrial farming.

Just as important, his grandmother, his Nonna Lina, who taught him not only the pasta-making style of his native Rome—which inspired Caperchi and his wife, Carol, to start their business, Seven Hills Pasta Co.—but about the healthy way to fuel one’s own kitchen.

“She had a diversified garden,” Caperchi says from the kitchen table of his home adjacent to the farm. “There’s a trend here coming from my grandmother … Within all of it is a love for food.” 

In 2017 the couple purchased the one-acre plot where the Agro-Eco Project sits. Initially, they used the farm (on which they also own a second residence away from their main Boston home) to grow produce for spreads, jellies and jams as part of their for-profit business. Caperchi and Carol, a Shrewsbury native (the couple met at the University of London), still work full-time for the pasta company, now based in the Boston Public Market. 

In 2020, as their small batch, bronze-extruded artisan dried pasta business exploded, Caperchi followed his heart and transitioned the land from the for-profit Seven Hills Farmstand to the nonprofit Agro-Eco Project. Greger, a Clark University alum, serves as the farm manager and previously worked there under the farm’s previous iteration. Pieter VanderBrug, a fellow Clark Cougar, helps with day-to-day operations during the week. Caperchi handles weekends and one weekday. 

Greger holds bachelor’s degrees in biology and studio art and later obtained a permaculture design certificate from Oregon State University. She took an unpaid internship with the Community Harvest Project in Grafton as a sophomore, both farming and painting. With an understanding of the impacts of food insecurity in the nearby community, Greger found her passion. Her interests crossed when she painted two murals at the Worcester County Food Bank. 

“It’s nice seeing people’s expressions of gratitude for fresh produce,” Greger says. “To see how much of an impact we make …all the sweat, hot days and long hours are worth it.”

THE PRACTICE OF AGROECOLOGY? 

That Rutland is the literal geographic center of the Commonwealth underscores the farm’s central role in fighting local food insecurity, stemming from the overarching belief that sustainable agriculture stands at the core of healthy living. 

The strategy comes from the principle of agroecology, defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as “a holistic and integrated approach that simultaneously applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable agriculture and food systems.” 

Agroecology strays from the common practice of monoculture farming (cash crops). Instead, the practice harmonizes agronomy and conservation. For the Agro-Eco Project, biodiversity equals resilience. For example, the Asian pear trees, a perennial plant, also serve as windbreaks for the annual plants they surround. Roots from the pear trees, and others on the farm, like papaw, benefit the soil. 

“We’re by no means a scientific operation,” Caperchi says, plucking a fresh raspberry off a high bush, “but we’re very curious and often ask the same question: ‘Are our practices producing superior-quality food?’” 

Looks like it. 

Without pesticides or synthetic fertilizer, agroecology optimizes the interaction between plants, animals, humans and the environment, based on a belief in socially equitable food systems where consumers choose what they eat and how it’s produced. In fact, on a picturesque Sunday morning in late July, insects sing the background music for a small but mighty farm at work. They’re also critical to the operation. 

A trio of focuses—food insecurity, agroecology and culinary—guide the farm’s operation. 

A partnership with the Barre-based Bionutrient Institute holds the farm accountable, measuring the elements and chemistry of the food, both on the farm and in their space. The Agro-Eco Project practices no-till agriculture under a permacultural-inspired system, complete with automated irrigation, creating the highest-quality soil possible, confirmed by a microbiometer. 

The approach helps limit the impacts of climate change, keeping carbon in the soil rather than releasing it into the air. They believe farming with agroecological techniques creates the highest-quality produce bursting with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. 

Recently, Caperchi purchased the 10-acre plot next to the farm for his chestnut business, Marisol Properties. He plans to expand the Agro-Eco Project around the chestnuts, and perhaps eventually add chickens to the overall project. 

“The future is, instead of having giant farms,” Caperchi says, “having medium-sized farms and diversified growth that we can aggregate.” 

COMMUNITY BENEFIT 

According to data compiled by the Worcester Food Bank, one in 12 Worcester County residents experience food insecurity. For children, it’s one in nine. 

That’s why everything grown at the Agro-Eco Project is donated to the central Massachusetts community. Some of it is picked up on premises as grocery bags or CSA shares. Other times, it’s delivered in bulk. All of the food grown at the farm, 2,000–3,000 pounds of produce annually, goes to food pantries like St. John's Food for the Poor Program in Worcester, the Rutland Food Pantry and the Charlton Food Pantry. When produce isn’t grown, from November to June, the farm’s Greater Table Initiative kicks in. They purchase food locally through the Worcester Regional Food Hub and redistribute it to a network of food pantries. 

Packaging and supplying produce for food pantries throughout Worcester County is just part of the overall nonprofit mission. 

The farm also contracts with small food businesses and local chef Mayari Velasquez Creach to make approximately 60 ready-to-eat meals per month for the food pantries using the farm’s produce and other local ingredients. The project’s culinary program takes farming to the next stage: how to cook delicious food with the fruits of their labor? A series of online videos, digital recipes and in-person cooking classes held across the region in conjunction with Rutland neighbor Overlook Farm answer that question in myriad ways, including in-depth cooking with perennial vegetables, which help to reduce the carbon footprint, and with heirloom plants as part of Slow Food’s Ark of Taste. 

Four years and counting of impact reports detail the farm’s successes: Nearly 5,000 pounds of produce donated from the farm in 2023; 50 at-home garden salad seed kits distributed through the food pantries as an educational component; and holiday pies and crisps made from frozen gooseberries, raspberries, blueberries and currants harvested in the fields—an example, Caperchi says as he opens the full-sized freezer in his garage, of “seasonal extentionality.” 

“Food insecurity is year-round,” Caperchi says. “Sometimes we’re overburdened with [certain crops] in the summer, so spreading their use throughout the year is important.” 

The farm recently revved up its hosting of volunteer groups. Greger especially enjoys working with high school aged students. During a recent session with the Regional Environmental Council’s YouthGROW leadership and job skills program, Greger taught them symbiosis, assuring them that the insects, snakes and the natural world make the farm go. 

The Rutland Food Pantry receives produce twice monthly and serves approximately 40 families, over 200 people. Lynne Amsden, a volunteer leader at the pantry, said the project’s benefit is twofold: They don’t have to purchase fresh produce and can focus their funds on milk, bread and meats. In a world where most donations contain high-sodium or sugar processed and canned goods, the fresh produce offers a healthy advantage. 

“One of the things that Rutland prides itself on is community involvement where we help our neighbors a lot,” Amsden says. “To have a local organization like this, so close, is phenomenal.” 

agro-ecoproject.org

This story appeared in the Fall 2024 issue.