Our Sourcing Criteria
Nextdoorganics sources our food from sustainable farmers, food makers and community partners. In all cases, we want our food providers to be small scale, high social impact operations. If you are familiar with a CSA or farm share, you’ll recognize what we are up to-and hopefully also see how we’ve tried to make our model super flexible. With that in mind, our sourcing guidelines are:
- If it can be grown locally, then we get it locally. We are based in NYC and our farms range from a few blocks from our Hub to regional organic farmers in NY, NJ, PA, MA, and VT, and fruit and nut growers in CA.
- Our farms have growing practices that utilize not just organic, but better than organic methods in taking care of the the land, their crops, and their workers. We also source from pesticide-free hydroponic farmers, especially in the cold season.
- Operate on a small scale. We are trying to replace the industrial food system by supporting the farmers operating at the smaller end of the spectrum.
- Create traceable, high quality foods at our Hub that help bridge the daunting gap between raw produce and delicious foods that support your health and happiness.
Our Food-Specific Criteria
Vegetables should be local to NYC and organic (certified or in practice). If they’re hydroponic, they must be pesticide free, use organic seeds, and use plant-derived fertilizer.
Fruits should be local when possible and organic (certified or in practice). Many apple and stone fruit farmers practice what is called ‘integrated pest management’ which means that they used sustainable and natural methods of growing and protecting their highly disease-prone trees but have decided to forego the organic certification process due to their willingness to do what they have to in hard times to protect their trees. We are in constant communication with our farmers and only seek out ‘clean’ sources of fruits in terms of what was actually applied to the land and trees as well as the labor practices of orchards using seasonal workers. We also source citrus fruits and avocados from farmers in California.
Small-batch items in ‘plus’ packages should be meat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and GMO-free products.
Dry goods should be organic (certified or in practice) or fair trade.
Eggs should be pastured and organic.
Cheese should be locally made in small batches. Some cheeses are raw and aged.
Breads may contain nuts, seeds, and gluten.
Web store items should contain primarily traceable, organics ingredients.
Chicken should be pasture raised and fed a diet of grass and grubs (with non-GMO feed in the winter).
Pork should be pasture raised and fed a non-GMO diet.
Beef should be grass fed, never grain fed (with grass silage in the winter).
Seafood should be caught wild using sustainable fishing practices.
Our Farmers
All the farmers Nextdoorganics works with are certified organic, certified naturally grown, organic in practice and/or pesticide-free hydroponic farmers.
Adirondack Grazers Cooperative is a collective of 20+ pastured cattle farmers in New York and Vermont.
Arc 38 is a farm and foraging community practicing sacred hospitality and permaculture in Wassaic, New York. An ARC is an Autonomous Resilient Community.
Bushwick Campus Farm is an educational farm in Bushwick, Brooklyn, combining student resources from four nearby high schools to grow organic in practice produce.
Feedback Farms is a high-efficiency, small-scale farming operation in Brooklyn. Feedback Farms also collects data and best practices for sustainable urban farming.
Finger Lakes Farms coordinates about 30 small-scale farms from Long Island and the Finger Lakes region of New York.
Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative coordinates 75+ small-scale, certified organic Amish farms in the Lancaster region of Pennsylvania.
The Piggery is a farm-to-table farmer and butcher shop in Ithica, New York. All pork is raised on pasture and woodland, supplemented with locally raised, GMO-free small grains.
Rock Steady Farm & Flowers is a new women-run, LGBTQ-friendly start-up farm operation in the Hudson Valley bringing us vegetables in the warm season.
Sea To Table connects small-scale sustainable fisheries with local food outlets to delivery fresh-caught seafood from the East Coast to New York City.
Willow Wisp Organic Farm is certified organic and grows vegetables, herbs and flowers in the Upper Delaware River Valley’s Damascus, Pennsylvania.