Current Grant Recipient Projects (2009)
The farmers who have participated in the Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund are very creative in finding solutions that enable them to continue farming and contributing to the rural economy.
Bill Fairchild’s late season-day neutral strawberry production
Bill is working with the Upper Mountain Research Station on testing out strawberry varieties for production on his land. They grow four different types of strawberries there on white plastic, including the late-season day-neutral variety. This variety is attractive to Bill because it would allow him to produce fresh-market berries for at least six months of the year, giving him out-of-season marketing opportunities. Because the strawberries need to be planted in the fall and over-wintered, Bill’s project is in the early phase of setting up beds and preparing the site. At the time of visit he had made some purchases toward his project, but had not been able to dig beds because of the excessive level of rainfall.
Carol Coulter’s Farmstead Homestead Cheese project
Carol’s homestead is a true working old-time homestead with a blacksmith shop, large gardens, and a goat-cheese operation, offering agritourism and home-made goat cheese. She has modeled an affordable milking parlor for replication by small herd producers to contract with her for milk supply. This allows her to expand her cheese production in her impressive cheese-making kitchen without the extra land and workload raising more goats would require. With the RAFI funds she has purchased a cheese press to make hard cheeses, to expand her line and allow her to age cheeses. She now shares a market with another High Country goat cheese producer, and the hard cheese gives her a different market without causing too much competition. She is in the process of hiring a new employee and expanding her production in anticipation of her new capacity.
Collette Nester’s Blue Ridge Farmers Market
Collette Nester’s project is an indoor farmers’ market featuring her pasture raised pork as well as an array of all-local products including meats, cheese, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Collette proved to be an excellent resource for farmers in her region around Alleghany County, and had already laid the ground work for a successful market before the doors were open, through networking and sourcing of a diverse product mix, and completing a marketing strategy. The storefront was not yet available at the time of the site visit. Collette has dealt with challenges from not anticipating the level of capital investment in the start-up phase of the store. Since the visit however, she has opened the store with great success in her first few weeks and is hearing praise from farmers and shoppers alike.
Stacy Martin’s Double Decker Mobile pasture poultry coop
Stacy has been selling her products at the Ashe county farmers’ market since its inception, and has become known for her goat’s milk soaps and her pastured hogs, poultry and eggs. Stacy is currently farming on two different pieces of land she rents, and her project was to develop a mobile chicken coop built from a trailer that would allow her to move from pasture to pasture. At that point she was working with the builder to complete the structure, and making some small changes in the design. Stacy also raises goats on the rolling pasture where she plans to put the mobile unit.
Steve Rivers' Bee Hives
Steve Rivers has worked in a factory his entire adult life, and was introduced to the idea of growing blueberries a few years ago by his neighbor, who was a retired blueberry farmer from Florida. He quickly gained an appreciation for it and has since built a u-pick operation into his fresh market berry business with hopes that it will provide an income to support himself and his college aged son in the near future. In the process of transitioning to organic, he learned about the benefits of keeping honeybees on site to help pollinate the plants and get a much larger yield. When he applied to RAFI, he had already experimented with bees and learned the great benefit to his blueberry crop, but had to overcome the nuisance the honeybees caused to his u-pick customers. Working with his son, the two have now come up with a model for combining the two with the added benefit of marketing blueberry honey along with his berries. Last year they sold berries in the Weaver street market in Carrboro NC, and are looking forward to the added business potential the bees bring.
Gary Brown’s Farm Timber Woodworking Workshop
Gary has been a full-time farmer and part-time carpenter in the off-season his entire life. He came to RAFI with the understanding of farmers’ need to come up with new potential income streams, and used his experience to make the case that it could be done through fine woodworking. Gary believed that there were enough people who could appreciate custom built furniture and cabinets that there could be a market for his products. He also thought that he could have something to offer other farmers who wanted to make use of their farm timber, but without the know-how and equipment or space to do it. His project idea was to build a workshop out of an old quail house with all the necessary tools and space to allow him to teach farmers how to add value to the timber they brought in. Gary said that he has developed a list of farmers from around Rockingham County and southern Virginia who are interested in participating. When I visited him he was pouring the concrete for the expansion of the building, and it was finished in early May. He will start workshops as soon as the harvest season ends.
Paul Marshall’s Dessert Pears
Paul Marshall has worked extensively with county horticulture agents to assess the potential for growing and selling dessert pears in the piedmont. His interest in perennial crops has lead him to small fruit production as a viable income source, and his research with area farmers’ markets and restaurant chefs tell him that dessert pears have real potential as a money-maker. For over a year he has worked to research the right varieties for his climate and is now making that dream into a reality. He has ordered and planted over 40 trees with his demonstration funds on his small plot of land, and is hopeful that the investment will pay off giving him a reliable income, and giving farmers in the Western Piedmont a new option for perennial income.
Alan Flippin’s Tobacco-to-Organic Greenhouse project
Alan has just returned from his third tour of duty in Iraq and anticipates one more before his service contract expires. His Stokes County farm has been in his family for four generations, mainly growing tobacco until the buyout. Although the farm has grown, and tobacco and row crops are still planted on parts of the 100+ acres, Alan’s mission is to turn it into an organic vegetable farm with year-round production. His project is the building of a new greenhouse in an effort to supply his community with fresh vegetables, and supply him with a viable income on the farm. At the time of the site visit, he was having the land graded and prepared for the construction of the greenhouse. He hopes to plant fall crops in it and experiment throughout the winter months on several vegetable varieties.
Appalachian Berries LLC’s marketing processing quality blackberries
Wayne Mitchem grows blackberries for Sunnyridge Farms along with several neighbors in Lincoln and Cleveland County. His project is designed to save blackberry farmers money through the marketing and sale of processing quality berries. According to Wayne, “This year has been especially wet leading up to blackberry season and the need to have a back-up plan is even more pressing if berries get too wet.” Wayne’s blackberry farm was just at the point of bloom at the time of the visit. He expressed his gratitude for a chance to build some cost-reducing opportunities into his business. Wayne also led a tour of the newly built Sunnyridge distribution facility that was preparing for a big year, undertaking the huge task of insulating entire sections of the warehouse for storage and shipment. Wayne has a good relationship with the company agronomist that helps him with pest-management and was looking forward to the season getting started.
Dustin McMurry's Farm Expansion Project
Dustin McMurry took over his grandfather’s farm at the start of the growing season last year and has been operating it sucessfully on his own for over a year. He has taken many lessons from his grandfather’s experience, but at 18, has already demonstrated impressive results from exploring new directions. He sells at 3 local farmers’ markets and manages 7+ acres of vegetables, potted plants, meat rabbits, chickens, honey, and eggs. Dustin’s project was to build a greenhouse, update his filtration system to allow him to expand his vegetable production, and improve irrigation. He was very happy with the new improvements, and was nearly finished with their construction. This expansion allows him to extend his season, pick up new income from selling starts, and most importantly, run his irrigation system without needing to clean out the filter every hour.
Art Duckworth’s Windmill for livestock watering, irrigation, aeration, agritourism
Art Duckworth’s farm is a small scale diversified operation with pastured hogs, cattle, and produce, and soon catfish. He purchased a windmill for several reasons, “I wanted to be off the grid so that my hogs and cattle aren’t dependent on electricity for water, but I also wanted to attract visitors to my farm.” This strategy is paying off for Art with new visitors stopping by to see it. He has especially catered to elementary school classes that want a tour of his farm. At the time of the site visit, he had already erected the windmill and proudly demonstrated its success, turning very little wind into a steady flow of water to his holding tank. Arthur is marketing his farm with the windmill’s image, and plans to host a “farmer field day” to help other farmers take advantage of similar ideas and opportunities to fold agritourism and practical innovation into smart business practices.
Becky Petrick’s Managed Grazing Plan for Sheep
Becky runs a small herd of fiber sheep on her 27 acre farm. To get the finest quality fleece, minimal parasite infestation, and quality grass for grazing, Becky decided to create a managed rotational grazing plan. This project funded a fencing system that allows her to increase her flock, charge higher prices for cleaner fleece, and keep predators and parasites from harming her sheep. At the point of visit, Becky had finished re-designing her fencing system to 3 paddocks instead of four because of the contour of the land, and access to wells. She anticipates more business from internet sales, and from the fiber-arts exposition in Asheville where her product is on display in front of thousands of potential customers.
Thomas Brent Brown’s Forced Air Cooler for Blackberries
Brent Brown operates a small fresh market blackberry farm and sells to Sunnyridge farms about 25 miles away. The problem he faced was that in the process of loading the flats of berries onto his truck, the field heat in the center of the flats would cause the berries to turn red, and he would lose about half of his yield. Brent’s solution to this problem was to replicate the distribution center’s own forced-air cooler right on site of his farm. This would give him assurance of the quality of his product, as well as an agreed upon bonus per flat for allowing the distributor to bypass the use of their cooler when the berries came in for distribution. At the time of my visit, Brent had the cooler fully operational and anticipated the cooler would pay for itself in less than a year.
Cassie Parsons’ Farm to Street Local Food Vending Cart
Cassie Parsons has created a successful pastured pork business with her hogs, and has marketed her meat to restaurants in and around Charlotte, the Triad, and Triangle. From that experience, she has learned that it makes sense to capture the value of the finished product as a farmer. Part of Cassie’s business includes partnering with a community college program to train and employ previously homeless citizens from Charlotte on cooking with local ingredients and running a food business. The students will help prepare the food and will have a role in the sale of it to Charlotte’s downtown customers. After my visit with Cassie, she was gearing up to start sales from the cart after making changes to her “Local Lunch” cart for certification from the health deptartment. Click here to see vending cart...
Mary Roberts’ Certified Organic Grafted Heirloom Tomatoes
Mary’s project represents a growing market of farmers interested in filling their customer’s demand for organic heirloom tomatoes. Her business is growing faster than her production capacity, which shows the opportunities that are available for growers interested in replicating her demonstration project without the fears of creating too much competition. At the time of the site visit, she had just finished the first round of grafting successfully, and had a waiting list of customers ready to order. She is looking forward to perfecting the grafting process, and holding a workshop in her greenhouse for demonstration.
Jerry Simpson’s Solar Powered Well Pump
Jerry Simpson has a career background in raising cattle, and as a retired extension agent, he knows what works. His project shows a trend for cattle producers looking to capture the whole value of their livestock by finishing them on pasture, and his model pasture will surely be a useful demonstration to the wide network of cattle producers in his area. He already has installed the solar powered well pump. He has laid out the plans for fencing in the large pasture for rotational grazing and a two acre organic vegetable plot at the center, with the pump strategically placed to fulfill irrigation and watering needs for the entire operation.
Amy Douglas’ Start-up projects
Amy Douglas grew up on her parent’s farm, learning about vegetable production early on. She has a natural ability to network with surrounding farmers and create markets for their products, and her business is just beginning to show that talent. She started “The Farmer’s Daughter” last year by selling to neighbors, friends and family and has quickly expanded to market into the larger community. Her project includes the construction of an on-site retail building and the laying of black plastic on her small four-acre plot. At the time of the site visit she had several vegetable varieties growing under the newly laid plastic, and a fully functional retail shop selling her own vegetables, jams and baked goods as well as neighboring farmers’ products to balance out a diverse mix to offer the public twice a week from her store.
Christine Vigeant, Waxhaw Farmers Market Sustainability and Development Project
The board of the Waxhaw Farmers Market has worked diligently for establishment of a semi-permanent farmers market in Waxhaw, Union County. The group had to relocate the market after the downtown land they were using was sold for development, and their newly acquired site badly needed tent structures. They received funding for the structures, as well as marketing and management of the Waxhaw farmers market. The market will support approximately 25 local producers and provide the town of Waxhaw with a supply of locally produced food. The review board appreciated the cooperation and excellent organization behind the project.
Denise Kuntz, Glycerine to Greenhouses
Denise’s project was intended for the use of glycerine as fuel for greenhouses. The project will support a non-profit that will utilize the substance, which is in abundance as a byproduct of biodiesel, to understand the best methods for burning it for fuel. There are two test greenhouses which will be used in the initial phase of the project, with hopes of expansion. If the project is successful, Denise’s organization will use the boilers to support several farms cut energy costs associated with heating their greenhouses. The review board was eager to see if this project could be successful because of the great demonstration value for other farmers due to fuel costs being a major concern.
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