Chris Field farms fourteen acres of ground with his partner, Jessi Okamoto, at Campo Rosso Farm in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. Camp Rosso Farm is what happens when two New York foodies decide to start a farm. Chis and Jessi grow a wide variety of very high quality Italian chicories – radicchios, endives, and more – as the cornerstone of their operation, and market through New York City’s Union Square Green Market and wholesale to restaurants in New York City.
We dig into how Chris and Jessi learned how to grow this challenging crop, and how they get compensated for the high labor inputs chicories require. And while we didn’t get into proprietary details of the more specialty varieties, Chris provides a primer on producing quality chicories for fall production, as well as insights on how they produce other high-end crops bursting with flavor.
Chris also provides insights into their marketing strategy, how he and Jessi jumped from city jobs into farming, and how he and Jessi are working to solve the challenges they’ve had sourcing labor for their young operation.
We dig into how Chris and Jessi learned how to grow this challenging crop, and how they get compensated for the high labor inputs chicories require. And while we didn’t get into proprietary details of the more specialty varieties, Chris provides a primer on producing quality chicories for fall production, as well as insights on how they produce other high-end crops bursting with flavor.
Chris also provides insights into their marketing strategy, how he and Jessi jumped from city jobs into farming, and how he and Jessi are working to solve the challenges they’ve had sourcing labor for their young operation.
Sponsors
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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 at StoreItCold.com. Mention the code FTF to double your CoolBot warranty at no charge. StoreItCold.com
Quotes from the Show
To be able to keep up with the demand of a certain product, you have to be able to produce enough to keep restaurants happy, to keep customers at the market happy.
Deer really love radicchio… they only eat the ones that are perfectly ready to pick, and they only nick just a little bit of it to ruin it.
We have really good weed control with the finger weeder, and it's kind of mind blowing how well it works. It's a really expensive tool, but I don't think I'd ever look back or think twice about it.
Why wouldn’t I take this amazing opportunity to sell to all these great restaurants and all these high end clients? Why would I throw that out the window because I maybe wanted to not have a long commute once a week or twice a week.
It's kind of nice because we're both in the city one day a week, at least. We have kind of best of both worlds. We can still go to an Italian specialty store and buy nice dried pasta or whatever, and then live out in the country in the quiet and be outside all day.
Deer really love radicchio… they only eat the ones that are perfectly ready to pick, and they only nick just a little bit of it to ruin it.
We have really good weed control with the finger weeder, and it's kind of mind blowing how well it works. It's a really expensive tool, but I don't think I'd ever look back or think twice about it.
Why wouldn’t I take this amazing opportunity to sell to all these great restaurants and all these high end clients? Why would I throw that out the window because I maybe wanted to not have a long commute once a week or twice a week.
It's kind of nice because we're both in the city one day a week, at least. We have kind of best of both worlds. We can still go to an Italian specialty store and buy nice dried pasta or whatever, and then live out in the country in the quiet and be outside all day.
Show Links
As so many have, Chris raved about raved about their KULT-Kress ‘Argus’ tool bar and steering system.
Campo Rosso shares a ton of information on their Instagram https://www.instagram.com/camporossofarm/ ; including a video of the row-cover roller Chris discussed.
Campo Rosso shares a ton of information on their Instagram https://www.instagram.com/camporossofarm/ ; including a video of the row-cover roller Chris discussed.
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. Additional funding for transcripts provided by North Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
