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134: Barb and Dave Perkins on Keeping the Community in a Large-Scale CSA, Seed Potatoes, Business Planning, and Farm Succession

8/31/2017

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Barb and Dave Perkins raise 30 acres of vegetables at Vermont Valley Community Farm in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, where they’ve farmed since 1994. Packing 850 CSA boxes each week, Barb and Dave work hard to keep their CSA community active in the farm with festivals, community days, and worker shares.

We take a deep dive into how their worker share program functions, and how it fits into their overall labor strategy – a strategy that includes two adult children in management positions on the farm. Barb and Dave dig into how they’ve structured their workdays to work for employees, and how they are starting the discussion about transitioning the farm to the next generation.
​

Dave takes us on a tour of the seed potato business, including how it fits into the labor, marketing, and business aspects of Vermont Valley Farm. We also discuss the basics of the business planning that led Barb and Dave to operate at a large scale in a short amount of time, how the mechanized the operation from day one, and how they manage mulching with their own hay and straw for fertility and weed suppression on a large acreage.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.

Farmers Web: Making it simple for farms, farm cooperatives, and local food artisans to streamline working with wholesale buyers. Lessening the administrative work that comes with each order helps producers create a more successful relationship with their buyers and can help them work with more buyers overall.

CoolBot: Build your own walk-in cooler with a window air conditioner and a CoolBot controller. Save on upfront costs, monthly electricity bills, and expensive visits from refrigeration technicians. Controllers, complete cooling systems, and turnkey walk-in coolers available at StoreItCold.com. Mention the code FTF to double your CoolBot warranty at no charge. StoreItCold.com

Quotes from the Show

[Dave] What intrigued me [about CSA] was the model itself turned agriculture on its head. Everything about it was pretty much the opposite of the agriculture I grew up under.

Barb] We thought there was no reason that we should, just because we were farming, accept a lower income than we had been making.

[Barb] CSA in some ways may be more complicated because our math has to be so impeccable and we have to figure out what we're planting, because everything that we grow that comes off this farm gets divided amongst our CSA members.

[Dave] making the offer is as important as people accepting the offer… It's kind of like getting invited to a party. You may not be able to make it, but you appreciate the fact you were invited.

[Dave] if you can mechanize something and that improves the process, it's a no-brainer. If it's in your budget, you do it because it's going to improve everything. Improve your life, improve your product, improve your economic bottom line. In my perspective, it's not even a consideration not to.

[Dave] Good seed is cheap seed.

Show Links

Dave mentioned the importance of the FairShare CSA Coalition in the development of the CSA community in the Madison area.

Vermont Valley’s potato seed business provides seed that is certified by the State of Wisconsin Seed Potato Program and that is also certified organic.
​

Barb’s favorite tool is the two-edge Lettuce Field Knife, available from Johnny’s Selected Seeds as well as a variety of other suppliers.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you by Earth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America; and by Rock Dust Local, the first company in North America specializing in local sourcing and delivery of the BEST rock dusts and biochar for organic farming. And by Local Food Marketplace, providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Additional funding for transcripts provided by North Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
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133: Jeff and Elise Higley of Oshala Farm on Picking a Niche and Getting to Scale in the Medicinal Herb Business

8/24/2017

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Jeff and Elise Higley of Oshala Farm in southwest Oregon’s Applegate Valley raise 37 acres of medicinal and culinary herbs for the wholesale herb market, as well as for direct- and value-added production.

Jeff and Elise provide insights into their business model for working with medicinal herbs, and how they went about getting the business established. We discuss how they balance labor needs, infrastructure utilization, and production cycle for over 70 annual, perennial, and biennial crops, and how they have developed processes that provide their products with stand-out quality and a significant “wow factor” – something that’s surprisingly important even in the wholesale market that forms the economic backbone of their business.
​

We also discuss property selection for medicinal herb production, how they’ve used regulatory changes as an opportunity to grow their business, and employee management in a business that is even scratchier, sweatier, and dustier than vegetable production. We also dig into the impacts of the “green rush” prompted by Oregon’s legalization of marijuana, how that’s affected their farm economics, and how they’ve adapted to those changes.

​Sponsors

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.

​CoolBot: Build your own walk-in cooler with a window air conditioner and a CoolBot controller. Save on upfront costs, monthly electricity bills, and expensive visits from refrigeration technicians. Controllers, complete cooling systems, and turnkey walk-in coolers available atStoreItCold.com. Mention the code FTF to double your CoolBot warranty at no charge. StoreItCold.com

Quotes from the Show

[Jeff] Really, to make a name in the business you need to show up with the poundage.

[Elise] Each plant has its own personality that we've gotten used to working with over the years.


[Jeff] We wouldn't have been able to do it without a good mentor and without people that have lead the way
before us.


[Jeff] Those are things that, that's 15 years, 20 years, 30 years of experience and trial and error that you can't buy. The only way you can really seek that is going after people who know it.


[Elise] I felt like the plants were like, "Hey, you need to make this happen, you guys. It's going to be a lot of work and sweat and years of hardship," but at the same time now we can see in our fifth growing season here it's really happening and it's really amazing to see.


[Elise] [Determining our cost of production has] been a great growing process in many ways but also just to be able to stand up and say, "We're not going to be taken advantage of and sell our product for less than it costs us to produce it and we're going to be able to mark it up enough."


[Elise] That's our goal, is to make sure that every day that we can out in the heat and sweat of it all, that we remember to give gratitude to those people because without our crew, we couldn't do it.

Show Links

We talked about the efforts of United Plant Savers to save endangered medicinal herbs.

Elise mentioned Jeff and Melanie Carpenter’s book, The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale. 

Elise and Jeff shared how important their work to establish their production costs at Oshala Farm. They worked with Tanya Murray of the Oregon Small Farm Program in her Cost Study Project. 

Elise mentioned her positive experience with Rogue Farm Corps. 

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America; and byRock Dust Local, the first company in North America specializing in local sourcing and delivery of the BEST rock dusts and biochar for organic farming. And byLocal Food Marketplace, providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
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132: Laura Davis of Long Life Farm on Soil Mineralization, Farming without Flea Beetles, and Organic Certification

8/17/2017

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Laura Davis farms about two-and-a-quarter acres of vegetables at Long Life Farm in suburban Hopkinton, Massachusetts, with her husband, Donald Sutherland. Laura started farming after she was laid off from her 30-year career in the medical device business, and she and Donald farm full time, selling their produce to a CSA and two farmers markets.

Laura was attracted for farming through a passion for soil science, and has put a lot of effort into re-mineralizing her soils. We discuss her approach to improving the soil in order to improve her crops, and the reduced insect and disease pressure she’s seen on her farm as a result. Laura also shares her experience with a recent foray into no-till production.
​

Laura is also an organic certification inspector, and we discuss the ways that being a certified organic farm from very early on fit into Long Life Farm’s business strategy. Laura shares her tips for record-keeping and staying in your certification agency’s – and your inspector’s – good graces.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

BCS America
: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.
​

Farmers Web: Making it simple for farms, farm cooperatives, and local food artisans to streamline working with wholesale buyers. Lessening the administrative work that comes with each order helps producers create a more successful relationship with their buyers and can help them work with more buyers overall.

Quotes from the Show

Soil science really was, for me, an eye-opening experience, because it's something that we don't know a lot about. We’re flying to the moon, but we don't know more than 5% to 10% of what we should know about our soils.

Seeing the USDA organic label on our sign, definitely gave people confidence in the fact that they could trust us to feed their family. That was very important as brand new farmers.

Show Links

Laura referenced her adherence to the Albrecht model of soil health and nutrition.

Long Life Farm uses a brix refractometer to evaluate the effectiveness of their soils program and the health of their plants.

Laura is particularly fond of the collinear hoe from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

Laura received her organic certification inspector training through IOIA – the International Organic Inspectors Association.

Laura is the president of the board of directors for the Massachusetts chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-MASS).
​

Laura is a big fan of U-Mass Extension’s Vegetable Notes, a newsletter about what’s happening in the world of vegetable crops in Massachusetts.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America; and byRock Dust Local, the first company in North America specializing in local sourcing and delivery of the BEST rock dusts and biochar for organic farming. And byLocal Food Marketplace, providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
Download Episode
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131: Anne Cure of Cure Organic Farm on Passion, Profits, and Growing into Diversity

8/10/2017

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Anne Cure has farmed at Cure Organic Farm with her husband, Paul, since 2005. Six miles east of Boulder, Colorado, Cure Organic Farm’s 15 acres of vegetables, 85 pigs, and eggs from 300 laying hens are sold through a CSA, restaurants, farmers markets, and an on-farm store.

Anne tells the story of how she and Paul started as full-time farmers with four acres of vegetables, and how they gained expertise and built infrastructure as they expanded their vegetable production and the diversity of their enterprises. We talk about how she and Paul financed their startup operation, and the keys that helped them convince a lender to believe in them, as well as how they found a land-tenure situation that allowed them to start farming on the outskirts of booming Boulder.
​

We also dig into how Anne trains and manages the interns, crew leaders, and additional employees on her farm to take responsibility, and the realities of delegating to interns and crew. And Anne reflects how having kids has changed how Anne relates to the farm, the changes she’s made to bring more balance between farm and family, and the ways the farm’s demands have changed since its early days.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

BCS America
: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.


​Farmers Web
: Making it simple for farms, farm cooperatives, and local food artisans to streamline working with wholesale buyers. Lessening the administrative work that comes with each order helps producers create a more successful relationship with their buyers and can help them work with more buyers overall.

Quotes from the Show

I farm because I love farming. I love harvesting. I love those mornings out there when the mist is settling in from the morning dew and your hands and your pants are just soaked when you're walking through your bunch greens or your baby greens. I love all that.

The most important place on the farm is our packing shed because it's the last place we see our food before it goes to our customer, whoever our customer is, and we want to make sure that it's our best work leaving every time.

In hindsight, that was the best thing we ever could've done for ourselves was the homework in the office before we planted our first seed.


Profits preserve passion. [Quoting her Farm Service Agency lender, Brian Cook]


You don't have to have dollar signs for eyeballs but you definitely need to make money from being a farmer.

I don't want the restaurants just to think of us when it's heirloom tomato season. I want them to get their horseradish and their sorrel and their spinach and their turnips and their rutabagas and everything all winter long from us.

Being awesome is tiring so just pace yourself. You're doing a phenomenal job already.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America; and byRock Dust Local, the first company in North America specializing in local sourcing and delivery of the BEST rock dusts and biochar for organic farming. And byLocal Food Marketplace, providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.

Download Episode
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130: Chad Wasserman of Chad’s Organics on His Solo Operation in Hawaii, No-Till Farming under Cover, and Making Vermicompost for His Farm

8/3/2017

1 Comment

 
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Chad Wasserman owns and operates Chad’s Organics in Hilo, Hawaii, on the east side of Hawaii’s Big Island. After farming up to an acre outdoors, Chad recently moved his entire farm indoors, focusing on 5,000 square feet of production under plastic to provide himself with a living from the herbs and vegetables that he markets to stores, restaurants, and a very small CSA.
​

With over eighty inches of rain each year and no frost – or even cool weather! – to kill off or slow down pests and diseases, Hawaii can be a challenging place to grow vegetable crops. Add to that the cost of bringing fertility inputs over 2,500 miles from the mainland, and you’ve created a situation that could try the best of farmers. Chad discusses what he’s done to ensure that his farming operation succeeds in the face of these challenges.

We discuss how Chad has developed a market for his products since he started his farm in 2010, how he’s changed his production in response to business growth, market development, and weather; and how he’s developed a worm-based composting system that brings him fifty to sixty pounds of compost each week with a minimum of effort and off-farm inputs.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.

CoolBot: Build your own walk-in cooler with a window air conditioner and a CoolBot controller. Save on upfront costs, monthly electricity bills, and expensive visits from refrigeration technicians. Controllers, complete cooling systems, and turnkey walk-in coolers available atStoreItCold.com. Mention the code FTF to double your CoolBot warranty at no charge. StoreItCold.com

Quotes from the Show

I like where I'm at because I feel like when I'm working I'm making money, I'm not rolling the dice to see hopefully it all works out.

I've cut down to four or five crops to simplify my life and I've just found them a lot more profitable when I compare the amount of input and labor versus my return.

The way I look that is, I don't want to hire people but if a tool or a piece of equipment would make my job faster and easier I was going to buy it.

I want [my products] to be unique, stand out for its quality something that people can remember when they go back to the store to go buy.

I've noticed with the worm compost I culled so much less and that makes your job easier when you're processing and washing and sorting your vegetables and packing.

Show Links

Chad mentioned the greenhouse poly that he uses to reduce the temperature in his greenhouse: Solar-Ice Greenhouse Film.

We discussed Elaine Ingham’s work on the soil food web.

Chad uses the Worm Wigwam to make his vermicompost.


And the BCS Caravaggi shredder  to grind the materials he puts into the Worm Wigwam system.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America; and byRock Dust Local, the first company in North America specializing in local sourcing and delivery of the BEST rock dusts and biochar for organic farming. And byLocal Food Marketplace, providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
Download the Episode
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