Costello Urban Farm is a 1-acre agricultural nonprofit in Lawrence, MA, that provides a year-round program that offers part-time, paid positions for local high school students to plan, grow, and harvest produce; lead local environmental and healthy community initiatives; and challenge their peers to do community service. The farm’s harvest is donated to local food banks or sent home to the youth’s families. They received a $2,800 grant to repair their broken drip irrigation system.
Costello Urban Farm was able to upgrade and replace the irrigation timer systems around the farm with battery-powered timers, which will be compatible with a future solar system. They also completed other repairs to the irrigation system and moved irrigation hoses. Development Manager Megan Davis told us that these upgrades have already reduced labor and improved productivity. She said, “at the end of 2022, the total produced was 2,348 pounds – all of which was donated to local pantry and soup kitchens or sent home with our Green Team youth for their families to enjoy.”
