"Agripenuers" Step in to Help Local Farmers

At an meeting at the Virginia Cooperative Extension Office last week the topic of conversation was how to grow a community food system. A novel idea was presented by two self-described “agripenuers” Agro-Depot and the Virginia Brewing Company:

Agro-Depot

A key problem for local farmers is how to bring their product to market. Successful area farms that grow organic vegetables or grass fed livestock sell it by subscription or by going to the farmers market every weekend. But how is the farmer to work the farm and attend the farmers market too? This is where a middle man—or in this case middle women--like Agro-Depot can help.

Sarah Roussos retired early from another career but she has not slowed down. On the contrary this woman who describes herself as having lots of “spit and vinegar” got fired up with when someone told her “real farmers never do business with business”. After having sold herbs and goats from her farm she decided to jump right into the problem of how does a farm market to the end user. So she started FAARM last year which she has renamed “Agro-Depot”. She says, “We took on farmers in Loudoun county and other areas who did want to do business with businesses.”

She says the problem with selling produce is one of perception. Restaurant customers would tell her, “I want pretty tomatoes and they have to be here in December.” Tomatoes of course do not grow in Virginia in December. She says, “We realized very quickly there was a problem. ”

Her partner is Debbie Heimburger owner of the Hill High Country Store in Round Hill which has been in business since 1946. While there is a certain nostalgia to country stores Debbie says she seems them as an opportunity for commerce not to be written off as artifacts. She says, “As we travel we always make a trek to see country stores and they have fallen by the way side.” She points out that these small stores are thriving in Napa and Sonoma so she sees potential to reinvigorate them here in Virginia by making them an outlet for the local farmer.

But the problem with selling local grown produce at a country store is one of supply. Debbie says, “The hobby farmers only generate enough produce to sell at the market at a very high price. If you don’t have the product there you are not going to get the traffic.” So Sarah and Debbie have teamed together and have more than 200 farmers providing customers to their retail outlets three of which are up and running today.

Kenner Love of the Rappahannock County Cooperative Extension service asked what size farms is Agro-Tech working with. “Is it a 50 acre farm or a 5 acre farm?” Kenner is a practical minded person and he is looking for someone who wants to buy all these peaches that are just now getting ripe out in the county. He says the farmers do not even get $1 per pound for these. Kenner says, “We have a lot of peaches coming is now in Rappahannock county. We would love to sell those peaches for $1 a pound off the farm. We don’t do that. We are not close to do that. These guys are retailing for a far lower price. How can you help those guys elevate their price? They have a set price but the price is not high enough.”

Sarah says the farms they work with are for the most part less than 10 acres. She says, “We have Stoney Brook Farm, Luke Wiseman. He has an 11 acre total organic farm. He is one of our wonderful sources. Endless Summer harvest in Loudoun county. They have a hydroponic operation and green house. Our interest is in working with farmers who can produce a little longer [i.e. use hoop houses and so forth to extend the season].” Debbie says they also have some larger farms Ray Showalter in rural Harrisonburg who was growing curly lettuce which he could not sell to rural peoples there. But in Loudon County at Round Hill store customers obviously understand that.

Molly Harris owner of Edible Garden restaurant in Richmond was brimming with enthusiasm. She spoke up to say, “We want to be your first restaurant client and your greatest public advocate and endorser.” She says, “Our goal in our restaurant is the benefit of eating seasonally. In September she will tell people, “Sorry no more peaches but try our apply crisp. No I am sorry we don’t have a fresh tomatoes in our restaurant and we won’t until July.”.She explains, “It’s undoing the way they have been trained.”

Sarah’s table where she made her presentation was littered with brochures which read in part: “the producer is NEVER [their boldface added for emphasis] asked to sell his product at WHOLESALE pricing. Rather we would allow the producer to SET HIS OWN PRICING at a ‘fair and realistic’ level which would enhance interest and repeat sales of the product.”

Their web site says, “The goals …. are to create venues where local farmers can connect directly with local consumers, to build community in an urban setting, and to provide public education on regional farming, gardening and food preparation.”

Sarah wraps up imploring, “If you a farmer come to us and say I am a farmer I would like to be in this program. If you are a restaurant in our vicinity we bring it to you.”

ZeroPak

In a crowd sometimes it’s the quiet ones who are the most interesting. So it was with Jim Justice president of the Virginia brewing company wearing jeans and alligator skin boots. He sat in the back of the room and did not say anything at first. But then he marched up the dais to make his presentation. His enthusiasm was infectious.

Jim says he is now the current occupant of a 12 acre former apple packing plant in Winchester that no one else wanted. The landlord basically said he could move in for free. Now the problem is ,“How do I pay for this monster”. His idea is to bring together beer drinkers, music lovers, local farmers, and shoppers into one venue.

He explained that he bought the bankrupt facility Zeropak which was one of three apple processing complexes in Winchester. He says, “It sat empty for 12 years. We have railroad tracks. I have the tallest building in Winchester. It’s 6 stories.”

One problem mentioned by growers is there is a need for large cold storage facilities. “That’s the one thing I have is massive amount of storage space.” If you have ever wondered how California can skip fresh grapes across the country for so many months of the year the answer is they have cold storage buildings that are several acres in size. “Instead of lasting 3 weeks they last 9 months. Some of our refrigerators have these machines to take the air out of the room.”

Jim is trying to build a farmers market around his brewery to draw in the crowds. He says, “The model I came up with is beer + music = money.” He says, “In my travels in the world the funnest [sic] farmers markets are a festival and I am all about the festival. I have refrigeration space and rail card access. The idea next is to bring the farmers market in.“

So Jim has brought in Sarah and Debbie of Agro-Depot. Sarah tells everyone that she got goose bumps talking about the peanut farmer who sold hundreds of dollars there at Zero-Pak the first day they were open. The farmers had planted and harvested the peanuts himself by hand. That farmer and others will profit from this growing venture.

"Agripenuers" Step in to Help Local Farmers

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