The 2020 Sustainable Business Awards spotlights the brightest of what’s happening in our local economy. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses has been tremendous, with the number of small businesses in Massachusetts being down 37% as of November 2020. Small businesses lend a distinct flavor to the communities in which they thrive. And it is these unique flavors that we must strive to keep alive in the upcoming year.
SBN’s Fifth Annual Virtual Celebration of leading Local, Green, and Fair businesses will provide a space for our local community to come together and understand how we can all better support our local businesses. The 2020 Sustainable Business of the Year Awardees, who will be in conversation with
NPR’s Award-winning host Robin Young, will talk about how they faced the challenges of the COVID-19 health crisis, as well as advice they have for fellow business owners in becoming a more fair, equitable and inclusive business community.
2020 Sustainable Business Awardees
Farm of Western MA
Barstow’s Dairy Farm and Store
Barstow’s Longview Farm and Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery is owned and operated by sixth and seventh generation Barstow’s. The farm provides the best possible care to their cows yielding healthier animals, better quality milk, higher milk yields, and reduced vet bills. Barstow’s uses rotational cropping, cover crops, and, in 2019, completed a four year transition to becoming 100% no-till on their 450 acres of wide open Massachusetts farmland.
The farm’s anaerobic digester converts the energy potential of food waste and cow manure into radiant heat for their homes and barns, a chemical free fertilizer for their fields, and electricity for 1,600 homes! Consequently, the digester diverts food waste from landfills, reduces chemical fertilizer use, reduces farm odor, reduces reliance on heating oil, enhances soil health and crop yields, and offsets Barstow’s carbon hoofprint by 85%.
Barstow’s Longview Farm is a part of the Cabot AgriMark Cooperative. Steven Barstow II is proud to sit on the Cabot Sustainability Committee.