The Need:

Fresh produce provides essential nutrients like fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help regulate blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. Without these protective components, the body becomes more vulnerable to diet-related chronic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and heart disease. In Montgomery County, heart disease is the leading cause of death, accounting for a quarter of all deaths from 2020-2022. Incorporating fresh produce into your diet is a key step in preventing serious health issues.

Food is Medicine and Produce Prescription programs have become increasingly powerful and cost-effective interventions to prevent and treat diet-related chronic conditions, address health disparities, and improve household nutrition security for positive long-term outcomes.

We partner with community health clinics and other community-based organizations (CBOs), who identify individuals either diagnosed or at risk of diet-related chronic disease such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Identified individuals are invited to enroll in our Food is Medicine program.

Our Programs:

• Mobile Farm Markets: Participants receive a card with preloaded funds that they use to shop for fresh, locally grown produce at our weekly mobile FARMacy markets, located in high-traffic, high-need locations throughout Montgomery County during the local agricultural season of June-November. The farmstand is stocked with culturally relevant, locally grown produce. To increase equitable access, our FARMacy Markets are also open to community members not enrolled in our Food is Medicine or Farm to School programs. We accept SNAP and SUN Bucks, which are matched by Maryland Market Money up to $20.
• Produce bag delivery: For families who can’t make it to our weekly markets for a variety of reasons, we have a wonderful team of volunteer produce-bag packers and drivers who deliver freshly packed produce bags to their doorstep.
• Nutrition education: Our health clinic partners also provide nutrition and diet-related chronic disease management classes. Paired with access to fresh produce, these two components of Food is Medicine help lead to improved outcomes for our program participants.

Our Partners:

The Need:

When children don’t consume nutrient-rich produce, they may experience forms of malnutrition – even when they consume enough calories. This can lead to weakened immune systems, lower energy levels, and impaired cognitive function, including difficulty concentrating in school. When families can easily access and afford healthy foods, children are more likely to receive the vitamins and minerals they need to thrive, supporting better health outcomes and stronger educational performance.

We partner with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to identify students and families at risk of food insecurity. In 2026, we are partnering with 19 MCPS schools – 19 elementary, 2 middle, and 2 high schools.

Our Programs:

• Mobile Farm Markets: Farm to School families receive a card with preloaded funds that they use to shop for fresh, locally grown produce at our weekly mobile FARMacy markets, located in high-traffic, high-need locations throughout Montgomery County during the local agricultural season of June-November. The farmstand is stocked with culturally relevant, locally grown produce. To increase equitable access, our FARMacy Markets are also open to community members not enrolled in our Food is Medicine or Farm to School programs. We accept SNAP and SUN Bucks, which are matched by Maryland Market Money up to $20.
• Produce bag delivery: For families who can’t make it to our weekly markets for a variety of reasons, we have a wonderful team of volunteer produce-bag packers and drivers who deliver freshly packed produce bags to their doorstep.
• SNAP-Ed with Community Schools: We also partner with MCPS Community Schools to bring locally grown fresh produce to over 140 K-2 classrooms across 13 schools. Wellness Trainers, trained by the SNAP-Ed curriculum, do a monthly tasting class with students who learn about nutrition and healthy living through yummy, nutritious, LOCAL food!

To provide even greater community access to locally grown produce, we provide wholesale local produce to local food assistance providers (FAPs) and food pantries looking to include fresh produce in their home deliveries.

Our wholesale work provides yet another strong sales channel for our farmers to ensure their financial viability and sustainability, and it provides FAPs with a reliable, high-quality, logistically straightforward source of locally grown fresh produce.

Our wholesale work deepens community support of local farms and positively impacts climate, economic, and nutrition outcomes.

Interested in purchasing wholesale produce from us? Contact us at info@communityfarmshare.org!

Through our programs that support our community residents (Food is Medicine, Farm to School, and wholesale for other FAPs), we help create the increased food production demand that sustains our small local farms!

Since our founding in 2020, we have grown to be the largest buyer of Montgomery County-grown produce in the county. Our work as both an aggregator and a food assistance provider (FAP) supports the success of small local produce farms and, in turn, fosters a resilient local food system.

Here are some key ways we support our small-scale farm partners:

• Aggregation: We prioritize purchasing from small farms that “lack individual capacity to meet buyer requirements for product volume, quality, consistency, variety, or extended availability” (USDA). Without aggregation, many small farms likely wouldn’t have access to selling to medium or large institutions. Our sales channels are “right-sized” for this scale of farm, and we offer our farm partners a flexible and tailored approach to partnership.
• Cold Storage Chain: Cold storage plays a crucial role in preserving the quality and safety of harvested produce. But having your own cold storage is often cost-prohibitive, costing thousands of dollars in upfront, maintenance, and energy costs. By providing our farm partners with cold storage at our aggregation hub, farms can harvest and deliver produce to us on schedules that work for them.
• Contract Purchasing and Crop Planning: We believe in fair pricing for farmers and work with farm partners each year to determine fair pricing. We also offer contract purchasing for the crops we need for the year. As a result, farmers can plan their crops according to agreed volumes and pricing that work for them. If needed, farmers can also apply for proportional advance payment options to help offset high cash outflow for farms early in the season (for labor, seeds, and other inputs) before the harvest brings in cash inflow. By contract purchasing, we provide small farms with reliable sales channels that they can access in addition to other retail outlets such as CSAs, farmers markets, and direct farm sales. Diversifying income streams helps small farms take the risk to increase and expand crop production and expand their business.
• Technical Support: For our farm partners who wish to scale to larger institutional sales, we provide valuable technical support by advising them on crop projections and harvest estimates, harvest and delivery timing, and industry standards for product size, quality, washing, and packing.
• Regional Food Hub Integration: In addition to our countywide work, CFS is also integrated with several key regional aggregators in the Mid-Atlantic. This integration helps our programs run reliably, and it also provides our Montgomery County farm partners with access to yet another sales channel, if they have surplus produce beyond what they sell to us.