Program Provides Seniors With Fresh Produce From Long Valley Farm

LONG VALLEY, NJ — Fresh produce from Ort Farms in Long Valley was packed into bags for distribution to senior citizens as part of a pilot farm-to-table program as a collaboration between the long-standing family farm and the Morris County Nutrition Program.

Through the cooperative arrangement, which is now in its third year, residents of Butler Senior Housing and Jefferson Chase can place orders for prepackaged produce from the Long Valley-based farm.

Items are carefully placed into bags for distribution to senior housing complexes by Nutrition Program staff. The seasonal produce includes a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, program officials said.

The Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) is funded by the federal government.

During the summer, vouchers are distributed to income-eligible seniors to be exchanged for foods such as fruits, vegetables, honey and fresh-cut herbs from participating farmers' markets, roadside stands, and community-supported agriculture initiatives.

"Historically, the program (SFMNP) has been running for many years, but the farm-to-table pilot program was first launched in 2021 in response to the pandemic’s impact on seniors’ ability to leave their residences," said Christine Hellyer, director of the Morris County Division on Aging, Disabilities and Community Programming.

"Morris County partnered with Ort Farms in 2021, where the vouchers were still administered, and seniors were given the option to have the county coordinate delivery. The program proved successful and has continued, with a few changes to this year’s program," she continued.

This season, 72 bags of produce will be delivered to seniors living in two senior housing units.

For the first 36 deliveries on July 18 and 19, seniors were overjoyed to receive bags containing blueberries, peaches, string beans, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet corn and cantaloupe, officials said.

A second delivery of seasonal fruits and vegetables is planned for September.

To encourage even more participation this year, each senior who pre-registered for a produce bag received an indoor sprout blossom kit along with the produce. The sprout blossom kit contains a variety of herbs that grow in sunlight and can be easily adhered to windows and walls.

"We’ve also been distributing incentive bags to housing units with large populations of seniors, so housing unit coordinators can have a better idea of what seniors would receive. In any population of seniors, there is a proportion who are homebound. It’s important to have this outreach and let them know what they might be missing out on," Hellyer said.

In 2023, the farm-to-table program was updated by digitizing the voucher process by adding QR codes to plastic cards on lanyards worn by seniors while visiting participating farmer's markets. It aided in reducing the possibility of voucher misplacement.

Furthermore, the distribution amount per person in a household increased from $30 to $50, which equates to $25 worth of produce delivered twice.

"Seniors have more flexibility to travel again, and mobile market food pantries are popping up in different places, but a need is still there—and we’ll keep delivering until that need is met," said Nutrition Program Director Rhea Young, who personally delivers the bags with support from a community service worker and two interns.

Ort Farms, now in its sixth generation, is a 400-acre farm managed by three generations of the Ort family. The farm is open all year, selling homegrown produce and other goods at their market stand and providing visitors with recreational opportunities.