Rhode Island’s farming scene is in the middle of a tangible shift. With more than 1,000 farms and the nation’s highest percentage of new farmers, the state’s agricultural sector is growing. From 2017 to 2022, both the number of farms and amount of farmland increased, a genuine reversal after decades of losing ground. Some of that growth is showing up as new infrastructure. For example, Cranston’s Urban Edge Farm just broke ground on a $1.7 million food hub designed to provide small farms with shared processing and aggregation space they could never afford on their own. But the bigger story is happening farm by farm, as growers embrace direct relationships with customers through formats such as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares, farmers markets, and agro-tourism. Here’s how four Rhode Island farms are building that direct connection.
For Rich Clark, agritourism isn’t a side project; it’s the business model. Clark Farms in Wakefield runs on a rotating calendar of profit centers: from greenhouse crops in spring, to pick-your-own sunflower fields in the summer, fall festivals, and Christmas trees and decor in the winter. “Moving from Greenhouse crops in spring to sunflower-driven agritourism, to fall festivals, to Christmas decorating and back to spring again is a monumental task for our staff to execute every single year,” Clark says. “As soon as one thing is done, we are racing to start the next season.” That constant motion is deliberate. “We work really hard to create a destination worth visiting whether it’s just to take pictures, create happy family memories, or to take beautiful products home with you,” he says.
Clark credits South Kingstown’s pro-agriculture posture for making that model possible, and he’s optimistic about where the town and the farm are headed. In 2025, Clark Farms acquired the property next door, a farm where Clark himself started shoveling manure back in 1983. This purchase brought the farm’s total footprint to more than 200 acres, “giving us almost unlimited potential to add a multitude of crops and purposes to keep our business solid and successful for the next hundred years.” His son Perry is now stepping in as a second-generation owner and manager. “We feel that the future is very bright for our company, for our staff, and our community,” adds Clark.
Maryellen Sun has big goals for Morris Farms, a fifth-generation family-owned farm that has been in operation since 1915. The Exeter and Warwick locations have been investing heavily in equipment, greenhouse upgrades, and a farmstand that now offers premium Angus-Wagyu cross beef alongside its produce and flowers. “For many farms, local regulations prohibit many agritourism events without special permitting or zoning designation,” Sun says. Morris Farms is working with its towns to change that, with plans for chef-partnered harvest dinners, farm stays, and hands-on classes like flower-arranging workshops.
Sun points to rising costs of materials, such as fertilizer and fuel, that hit small farms hardest. “Small farms like us don’t have the ability to negotiate better prices like the large corporations can,” Sun said. What keeps her optimistic is what a working farm protects. Morris Farms’ fields and meadows in Exeter and North Kingstown host beavers, bobcats, turtles, and monarch butterflies, a habitat that disappears the moment land is developed. “Once farms are developed, there is no turning back,” Sun says. That’s part of why she believes small farms are worth the premium. Without the pressure for crops to survive mass shipping, Morris Farms can grow heirloom
varieties like white eggplant, and let tomatoes ripen fully before picking. “Anytime you see a small farmer working, you can pretty much be sure that they are doing this as a labor of love,” Sun says.
At The Farm in RI, located in Chepachet, surviving has meant learning to say no. Owner Sammie Vallone describes the last five years as a crash course in focusing on what actually works. “We’ve shifted our business model to emphasize direct relationships with our customers through our self-serve farm stand, expanded into our restaurant relationships, and continued to grow our certified organic plant sale,” Vallone says. “We think of it like pruning for the business.”
The costs forcing that discipline are almost universal for small farms: seeds, compost, insurance, packaging, labor. “There’s a limit to what customers can realistically afford to pay for food, so margins have become much tighter,” Vallone says. This year brought a sharper blow when the farm lost a greenhouse during a blizzard, cutting into what it could grow all season.
Vallone sees state grant programs as genuinely useful, but says regulation often assumes a scale small farms don’t have. “Many regulations are written with much larger operations in mind,” she says. “Small farms often end up navigating the same paperwork and compliance requirements as businesses many times their size.” Still, she’s optimistic, pointing to a new generation of growers and a public that increasingly wants to know where its food comes from. “Buying from a local farm isn’t just purchasing vegetables,” Vallone says. “It’s investing in open space, local jobs, food security, and a resilient community.”
Sanctuary Herbs of Providence is a network of farms that produce chemical-free herbal teas and culinary herbs grown by small farmers across the Providence area, many of them immigrants and refugees from countries including Liberia, Laos, Cambodia, and Uganda. Owner Christina Dedora, who also runs Blue Skys Farm on rented land at Urban Edge Farm in Cranston, knows the economics of small-scale farming firsthand. “Labor cost and material cost have risen over the past five years, thus making margins tighter than ever,” Dedora says.
Finding help has become its own struggle, too. People “who want to work hard physically” through “unpredictable weather every year,” as Dedora puts it, is a combination that keeps many prospective hires away. What’s made the difference, Dedora says, is support that goes beyond individual customers. Dedora points to the state’s Local Agriculture and Seafood Act (LASA) grant as one of the biggest reasons Sanctuary Herbs has been able to grow, “We were able to purchase equipment and build infrastructure.” She also credits nonprofits like Southside Community Land Trust, where she and Sanctuary Herbs co-founder Eliza Sutton first met, and Farm Fresh RI for supporting small farmers “over the past 20 years.” Her hope rests less on grants than on people: “an increased number of consumers who truly want to buy local, even though it may cost more.”
Enjoy the bounty of Rhode Island farms this harvest season at farmers markets, many of which are open through October. Here’s a partial list of places around the state to get you started. Note that outdoor markets may be weather-dependent. For best bets, bring your own tote bag and cash!
Year-round:
Mount Hope Farmers Market, Mount Hope Farm,
250 Metacom Avenue,
Saturdays, 9am-12:30pm.
September 12, September 19, and October 3:
Burrillville Farmers Market, Stillwater Mill Center,
75 Tinkham Lane, Harrisville,
9:30am-12:30pm
Through September 20:
Charlestown Land Trust Farmers Market at General Stanton Inn,
4115 Old Post Road,
Sundays, 9am-2pm.
Through October 18:
Garden City Farmers Market,
Garden City Center, 100 Midway Road,
Sundays, 10am-2pm.
Through October 25:
Foster Farmers Market at Shady Acres Diner,
164 Danielson Pike, Foster,
Sundays, 9am-1pm.
Through October 31:
South Kingstown Farmers Market at the University of Rhode Island,
25 West Independence Way,
Saturdays, 8:30am-12:30pm
Through October 3:
Lincoln Farmers Market,
Chase Farm Park, 667 Great Road,
Saturdays, 9am-1pm.
Through November 21:
Aquidneck Growers Market,
Newport County YMCA, 792 Valley Road,
Saturdays, 9am-noon.
Through October 11:
Fishermen’s Memorial Farmers Market,
Fishermen’s Memorial State Park, 1011 Point Judith Road,
Sundays, 8:30am-noon.
Through October 28:
Aquidneck Growers Market,
Memorial Boulevard between Edgar Court and Chapel Street,
Wednesdays, 2-6pm.
Through October 29:
Armory Park Farmers Market,
Dexter Training Ground, Parade Street and Hollywood Road.
Thursdays, 3pm-dusk.
Through September 26:
Scituate Rotary Farmers Market,
Village Green, 46 Institute Lane, North Scituate,
Saturdays, 9am-noon.
Through October:
Goddard Memorial Park Farmers Market,
1095 Ives Rd.,
Fridays, 9am-1pm.
Through October 27:
Woonsocket Farmers Market,
John A. Cummings Way at Clinton Street near Thundermist,
Tuesdays, 3-6pm.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here