HADLEY — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is known to dodge parties and fanfare, favoring projects and family time.

However, she got on the Massachusetts Turnpike on Monday and headed west to Hadley with a singular mission in mind — to highlight an ongoing, five-year partnership with farmer Joe Czajkowski, whose farm on Comins Road bears his name. The Czajkowski Farm is the largest vegetable supplier for the largest restaurant service in New England — the Boston Public Schools.

“We are not only improving the lives of our students, making sure that they are full and happy and ready for the day of learning ahead of them, but we’re then also able to support farms out here on the other side of the state,” Wu said, referring to an ordinance she helped pass in 2019 as a city councilor when Boston first partnered with Czajkowski.

The Good Food Purchasing Plan Ordinance sets a standard for food procurement for the city, focusing on environmental sustainability, animal welfare, nutrition, fair labor practices and local purchasing. It aims to provide nutritious meals to Boston schools while steering public dollars to the regional economy by supporting local agriculture, and to do so in a way that serves as a “model” of health and well-being, according to the mayor.

In attendance on Monday were U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, state Sen. Jo Comerford and state Rep. Dan Carey, alongside staffers and representatives from UMass Amherst, which also has a dining hall contract with the farm.

“The reason we are here is that we have an eastern Massachusetts leader saying publicly, ‘you make us better,’ you make our kids healthier, you feed Massachusetts,’’ Comerford said.

Czajkowski, a third generation farmer, thanked Wu and those gathered for their efforts in distributing quality food while supporting local agriculture, and noted the various impacts such partnerships have for both parties.

“Buying local like this does a lot of good for the community,” Czajkowski said. “It helps keep open space open. It makes for a more diverse community having farmers, and all the different support we get from machinists and welders and others. That’s a big help.”

He said it’s also better for the environment, pointing out how less in diesel fuel is needed to transport produce from western Massachusetts than from California or Mexico.

“The food is fresher and nicer,” he said. “It also helps make year round jobs for people, and to me, that’s important, because we have so many storage crops we are able to offer full-year employment.”

He added that year long employment is beneficial to individual farmers, since it means, “People don’t have to follow the crops from Florida to Maine. They can settle down. Their kids can have continuity in their education. They can become part of the community, and it’s just better all around.”

Czajkowski took the opportunity to show the legislators around his fields and facilities, showing McGovern how to harvest sweet potatoes and giving Wu her first experience in a field of brussel sprouts.

He showcased the success he has had with a 2.3-acre dual-use field, serving both as a bed for broccoli and renewable energy. Set up on a windswept hill, rows of broccoli grow underneath elevated, v-shaped solar panels, which extract enough energy to supply electricity to 60 low-income homes and also provide some of the power on his farm.

He shared that he intends to replicate this system, adding several more acres along Route 47. “If 1% of the farmland in this country put in this system, we would meet all our green energy goals for our nation,” he said.

In addition to providing background on agricultural ingenuity and successes, Czajkowski also took the opportunity to voice the struggles, some uniquely challenging, being faced by the agricultural community.

“I do want to say that agriculture is somewhat threatened ... It’s hard to get money to stick, is the thing that farmers asked me to tell you,” speaking to the legislators present.

“For farmers I think that’s always been the way, ya know, but it seems a little more so now,” he said, citing how inflation, climate change, and the intensity of competition all threaten the modern farmer, in addition to the age-old struggles of weather and disease.

“The regulations and the cost of production are making it difficult for people. You know it’s been more expensive the past few years. On a farming scale it’s been a lot more expensive. Diesel fuel is double. Fertilizer is triple.

Czajkowski warned that when it comes to farming, the U.S. is losing its competitiveness. From 2000-2021, imports were up 615%, he said.

“I agree with you,” said McGovern, adding that these are among the reasons that led him to joining the Agriculture Committee in Congress.

The politicians agreed that the model laid out by the Boston Public Schools is a good one for others to follow.

McGovern praised the “natural connection” between Boston Public Schools and local farms since both parties benefit, but hopes that the Boston ordinance becomes a model for other communities, stating, “We should be doing more.”

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.