Direct marketers discuss what makes their approach work
By Carol Stender
cstender@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/09/2012 3:42 PM
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MILAN, Minn. — Chuck Weibel and his wife, Carol Ford, are well known for the winter CSA. In their Milan greenhouse, designed by Weibel, Ford heads the production of salad greens and vegetables.
Customers love the freshly grown greens and produce in winter.
Like other direct marketing producers, the couple wants to distribute products more efficiently and economically to customers in the Twin Cities, eastern South Dakota and southwest Minnesota.
A workshop in Milan last week was the first step to attain the goal.
More than 40 people attended. Many were local growers. Some want locally grown produce in their businesses. Others were there to tell how they they've successfully distributed produce, meats and berries to customers.
GROWN Locally Co-op, based in Decorah, Iowa, focuses on the aggregation and transportation of meats, chickens, vegetables, honey, baked goods, herbs and flours to retail, wholesale and institutions.
Members pay $100 to belong, said Johnice Cross, co-op manager. First-year producers are on probation and work with mentors who show them how to process and package items.
The co-op has primary and secondary growers. There are three primary growers for a product. When their production is exhausted, secondary growers' items are used. Then brokers, non-cooperative members, are contacted.
Traceability is huge, Cross said. The co-op has a USDA license. Food is labeled with a reference number, grower name and packing date.
Each farm is internally audited and must conduct a water test.
Growers also sign a pledge saying they won't use antibiotics, hormones in feed, and no pesticides or herbicides.
Member farms range from one acre to 40, she said. Not all products come from any one grower.
South Dakota Local Food Co-op is a virtual farmers market. Through its website, customers pick items to purchase, producers bring it to a site where co-op volunteers package it for distribution to drop sites.
The cooperative started with 40 members, 20 of them were producers and in 18 months has grown to 135 members.
Consumer demand prompted producers to start the Upper Missouri Valley Local Foods project in Vermilion, S.D.
The community pushed for a locally grown business.
UMVL has a storefront with plans to remodel and expand within the historic building.
It offers vegetables, poultry, organic beef, lamb and pork, berries and fruit. Last year it garnered $55,000 in sales.
Connie Karstens and her husband, Doug Rathke, offer a different distribution approach. They operate The Lamb Shoppe near Hutchinson. They built a USDA processing facility on the farm where they process and package lamb for sale to local and Twin Cities restaurants, at their on-farm store, food cooperatives, CSA meat share, caterers and through their booth at the Minnesota State Fair. They also sell live animals.
They offer a variety of produce and items from other growers.
The couple has established collaborations with local growers including River Ridge Wool and Weavers, Loon Organics, Kadejan, Inc., Wilderness Naturals, Ames Honey Farm and Grassland Solutions.
Karstens also offers wellness consultations at the store. She grows herbs and looks for other herb growers to maintain her supply.
The farm's year-round meat sales require a plan.
"We plan all year for the state fair," she said. "We have to have a plan so that every week we can give our customers fresh meat."
Rathke handles the production side and Karstens focuses on retail.
"For our target market, we try to find people who are health conscious and who support local foods," she said.