Veggie Hub Builds Sales For Market Gardeners

Veggie Hub Builds Sales For Market Gardeners CROPS Miscellaneous Michael Gehman gets better prices for his vegetables by marketing them with more than 20 other independent growers Gehman is an aggregator serving as a go-between for market gardeners and chefs “I started out growing for farmers markets in the St Louis area in 2009 and I didn’t even break even the first year ” says Gehman “The next year I started a CSA Community Supported Agriculture operation and started supplying a few chefs who liked what we could bring them ” For the next few years he concentrated on the CSA and selling at 3 farmers markets He realized he was putting in twice as many hours and earning half as much as he did in his previous career in landscaping “I started reaching out to chefs but we only grew 10 items and they used 100 items ” says Gehman “They were interested but frustrated trying to use local products If the grower they worked with had a crop failure they had to find someone else or stop using local produce ” When another market gardener with a chef customer base decided to quit Gehman bought him out “We doubled our clientele overnight ” he recalls The problem of providing what the chefs needed continued Gehman turned the farm side of the business over to his brother and decided to concentrate on the wholesale side He also brought other growers into the effort coordinating with them and the chefs on what would be in demand He stopped selling under the family’s Double Star Farms and began marketing under Farmstead Foods as a representative of the group “We now work with 24 other growers ” says Gehman “We are a pipeline for them to the wholesale market We meet with the farmers each winter to discuss what they plan to grow and then meet with the chefs to tell them what farmers in the area will have ” Farmstead Foods has gone far beyond just vegetables Gehman will work with anything local including dairy eggs and meat and not just fresh Other products include herbs mushrooms and even wood for smokers “We have folks who do great canned goods and we try to get our produce into their canneries ” says Gehman “It bolsters our product line and gives us more we can offer our clients In addition we are always playing around with new crops and those that can be grown year-round in the greenhouse or stored We share what we learn with the other growers so they don’t have to experiment ” With the increased production from other farmers and better coordination Farmstead Foods has expanded beyond the St Louis area Gehman now covers most of southern Illinois and north into central Illinois While the main focus is on chefs he is also working with some small food markets and a group that works with a larger food distributor He is expanding beyond the traditional definition of local as well Products offered by Farmstead Foods now include citrus fruit from small growers around Bakersfield Calif and olive oil from small farms on the island of Crete “The more we can do the more people look at us as the place to go ” says Gehman “We are proceeding with caution to find small farmers in other areas who grow things we can’t grow here ” What hasn’t changed is identifying the food source to the chefs and their customers “Even when using sources outside our home area we give credit to the farmers who grow the food ” says Gehman Gehman encourages other market gardeners to try developing a similar marketing hub He does warn against distributors or restaurants that use local growers to “greenwash” their business He suggests growers reach out and build solid connections with others doing sales “Make sure they have local small farmers’ interests in mind ” says Gehman “Sit down with the managers and chefs of local restaurants and explain what you do Go through a seed catalog with them and find out what they have a hard time getting from food service distributors Then you might later be able to sell them your tomatoes and potatoes ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Farmstead Foods 16182 Mount Zion Rd Benton Ill 62812 ph 618 218-4840; sales@doublestarfarms com; www farmsteadfoods com

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