Food with Dignity: Organic Farming for Community Impact

Written by Maggie Saska- PCO Certified Organic, Northeast TOPP Education & Outreach Coordinator

While standing in the new wash/pack storage facility, Carversville Farm Foundation (CFF) Farm Director Steve Tomlinson explained that “the sky’s the limit” when it comes to the farm’s potential for production. In 2025, the farm donated approximately 300,000 pounds of produce, 665,000 pastured eggs, 52,000 pounds of pastured poultry, and 17,000 pounds of beef to 20 food access partners, including community kitchens and food pantries across the Greater Philadelphia area.

CFF opened its doors to a PCO’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) farm tour, highlighting organic production methods from the diverse operation certified for all three organic scopes. The foundation has always been organic-focused and views the organic seal as the highest mark for quality food. The organization’s guiding principles are to provide healthy, fresh food of high quality and flavor, while also ensuring dignity and agency in how food is distributed to partner organizations.

Steve and livestock manager Matt Dingle led a PCO TOPP tour through the heart of the 350-acre certified organic farm, focusing on livestock production, processing, storage, and late field production during our November 2025 visit.

Highlights of the tour included the compost production area, where feedstocks are used to produce the high-quality compost spread on the vegetable and hay fields. On organic farms, compost production is key in the cycling of on-farm nutrients, and CFF is no exception. Feedstocks include manure, spent hay, vegetable scraps, and town leaves.

Participants also toured the various areas involved in egg production, beginning with the winter facility for birds that are housed in mobile units during the summer, and continuing to the final mobile units still in the field for the season. Matt explained how the mobile units are managed and moved across the lush pasture. Each unit is relocated daily and is equipped with solar panels that support egg harvesting and power an internal belt system that automates egg collection.

While walking between field sites on the tour, Steve highlighted the importance of pasture management through cover crop seeding and field management. Steve took a moment to “read the field” for visitors by identifying and discussing the role of cover crops, including triticale, clover, daikon radish, and vetch. Steve shared that they plow and overseed bare spots in the pasture and add amendments each year to provide healthy grazing areas.

CFF does on-farm processing of meat birds, chickens, and turkeys, as well as egg cleaning. The tour stopped and looked at the processing facilities for meat as well as eggs. Steve and Matt explained the steps in processing, related adaptations they’ve made over the years, and touched on inputs used for organic processing.

On the way to the wash, pack, and storage area, the tour looked at vegetable fields cropped for next season and stopped at the high tunnels to talk about winter greens production and crop planning. Steve spoke about this crop planning, pasture and field rotations, as well as his record keeping practices, explaining that over the years the farm has developed a good sense of average harvest and plans each bed for the upcoming season before spring begins each year.

Finally, the tour concluded at the new wash, pack, and storage facility, which is located in a new building on site. Steve discussed the goals for winter storage and supplying their partner operations with produce throughout the winter months. Steve energetically stated that he won’t be satisfied until they figure out a way to maximize production utilizing the freezer and cooler space throughout the year.

Participants were able to peek behind the scenes of this diverse operation and hear about organic management practices. We are grateful to the farmers for their good work and for sharing their time throughout the tour!

Learn more about the Carversville Farm Foundation at www.carversvillefarm.org

Image Captions:

Image 1: Matt Dingle, livestock manager, with open pasture layers

Image 2: Radish cover crop

Image 3: Steve Tomlinson discussing cover crop procedures

Image 4: Steve Tomlinson discussing the wash/pack/storage area for the facility.

Image 5: Steve Tomlinson explaining Carversville Farm Foundation's composting facility.