Forget peanuts and Cracker Jack: These baseball teams have stadium-grown greens
Dirt is for more than filling base paths at the ballparks of these 'farm teams' 鈥� it鈥檚 for growing food too.
'Fenway Farms,' a garden plot at Fenway Park in Boston, grows fresh vegetables not typically found in baseball stadiums 鈥� arugula, Swiss chard, and broccoli rabe, for instance 鈥� for use by the chefs at the EMC Club kitchen, just 25 feet away. It's one of four major league baseball stadiums growing food in their own gardens.
TakePart/Maureen White
As fans sitting on the third base line streamed into Boston鈥檚 Fenway Park for the Red Sox home opener in April, they were greeted with the sight of 1,800 square feet of raised beds on a formerly unused 5,000-square-foot rooftop.
鈥淔enway Farms鈥� initially will grow fresh vegetables not typically found in baseball stadiums鈥攁rugula, Swiss chard, and broccoli rabe, for instance鈥攆or use by the chefs at the EMC Club kitchen, just 25 feet away.
The ballpark may not conjure images of health and sustainability鈥攁nd certainly not innovation in urban agriculture鈥攂ut a handful of Major League clubs just may change that, and in the process give new meaning to 鈥渇arm teams.鈥� This season, the Red Sox join the Colorado Rockies, the San Diego Padres, and the San Francisco Giants in starting to grow a portion of their stadium concessions in on-site farms and gardens.
The farm鈥檚 location is highly visible to many of the roughly 37,000 fans who fill the ballpark for the team鈥檚 81 home games and the handful of concerts and other events to which Fenway plays host鈥攁 potential influence that is not lost on Chris Knight, the team鈥檚 manager of facility planning and services.
鈥淲e have such a platform here at this level of sports and at Fenway Park鈥攖his is one way we can make an impact for the environment and nutrition,鈥� he said.
When the first vegetables and herbs are harvested in early May, Fenway Farms will be contributing its part to a long-term push at the ballpark to operate more sustainably鈥攁nd a more recent emphasis on integrating healthy food into concessions. Knight said the idea for the farm came from Linda Pizzuti Henry, wife of Sox co-owner John Henry. Last summer, the founders of 鈥攁 company converting unused space into farms and gardens鈥攎et with Henry to pitch ideas for turning that dream into a reality.
The process 鈥減icked up quickly鈥� from there, said Green City Growers founder Jessie Banhazl, with the team picking out a site on the front-office roof and growers meeting with chefs at the seasonally inspired EMC Club to come up with a lineup of veggies to grow. began construction and farm installation in mid-March, and plants went into the newly poured soil last week鈥攋ust in time for the first home game of the season.
鈥淚t鈥檚 wild. We鈥檙e really, really, really excited about this,鈥� said Banhazl, whose company will maintain the farm. 鈥淭his particular project is the coolest and most widespread reach that we鈥檝e ever seen with an urban agriculture project.鈥�
The foray by the Red Sox into urban agriculture is unusual among modern professional baseball teams鈥攂ut the team is not the first to catch the grow-your-own bug. In 2012, at the stadium chef鈥檚 request, San Diego Padres head groundskeeper Luke Yoder planted more than a dozen hot pepper and tomato plants in the Petco Park bullpen. In 2013, the Colorado Rockies, working with their catering contractor, Aramark,听 near Gate A at Coors Field, which sprouts an assortment of flowers, herbs, and other vegetables. Much of the food harvested from 鈥淭he GaRden鈥� is found in dishes at the stadium鈥檚 premier Mountain Ranch Club.
Last season, the San Francisco Giants and Bon App茅tit Management built , a 4,320-square-foot dining pavilion serving produce grown in several nearby gardens and a high-yield vertical farm. (There was even when the Padres took issue with Giants鈥� marketing claiming to have the majors鈥� first farm, claims that were later retracted.)
The Garden pavilion contains two food concepts: The Hearth Table uses only gluten-free ingredients, while The Garden Table serves vegetarian offerings. Bartenders even integrate fresh-grown herbs into the cocktails. Don鈥檛 worry, you can still get your all-beef hot dog at The Garden, but Laura Braley, spokesperson for Bon App茅tit Management, said the ballpark simply wants to provide alternatives for fans seeking a more nutritious meal and sees the on-site farm as a way to inspire fans to think about the source of their food.
While the Sox, Rockies, Padres, and Giants lead the majors in progressive food and nutrition policies, other clubs appear to be competing for the most outrageous offerings on the other end of the health spectrum. At Rangers Stadium in Texas, for instance, fans this season on a deep-fried 鈥淪鈥檓Oreo鈥� (exactly what it sounds like), chicken-fried corn on the cob, and bacon-flavored cotton candy. The Arizona Diamondbacks this season introduced the : a churro inside a chocolate-frosted long-john doughnut, topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and both chocolate and caramel syrups.
Make no mistake: Sox and Giants fans still have their pick of less-than-nutritious stadium foods. Neither club would provide data on how well their healthier offerings have been selling, but a 听of a healthy-food overhaul of a concession stand at a high-school athletics facility found that the changes had no negative effect on concessions sales and even improved overall satisfaction among parents.
Varsity football is a world away from Major League Baseball, sure, but with dining trends tend toward healthier food nationally, there is both interest and demand that these programs could tap into.
Besides nutritional and environmental goals for their farms, though, both the Giants and Red Sox have strong educational outreach programs as well. The Giants earlier this year to use The Garden at AT&T Park as an outdoor nutrition and agricultural classroom for children on nongame days, giving kids a chance to learn the importance of healthy eating. Boston has similar plans for youth enrichment鈥攁nd even dreams of farming in other parts of the ballpark鈥攁s soon as farm operations are streamlined and crops are coming up.
While the first veggies won鈥檛 be ready to harvest for a few more weeks, Banhazl said she caught glimpses of the the farm鈥檚 potential influence on opening day. As she watched child after child run up to the railing and see the new beds for the first time, she saw something come alive in them.
鈥淭hey鈥檇 say, 鈥極h my God, the Red Sox have a farm?鈥� 鈥� she recalled. 鈥� 鈥榃e should do this, Mom!鈥� 鈥�
鈥� Steve Holt is a regular contributor to TakePart. He writes about food for Edible Boston, Boston Magazine, The Boston Globe, and other publications.听
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