Small farms have growing pains

High demand for locally grown food pressures lifestyle

Melons are up for grabs at the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction in Dayton, Va. (Photos by Steve Helber/Associated Press)

DAYTON, Va. - At the wholesale produce market in this Mennonite community, farming families arrive by horse and buggy, and pallets are stacked high with freshly harvested Shenandoah Valley onions, corn, green peppers, and squash.

The setting evokes a simpler, preindustrial era. In reality, small-scale farmers are experiencing growing pains as they adapt to the country's expanding diet for locally grown foods and the exacting demands of high-volume distributors of their produce.

Companies such as Sysco Corp., Whole Foods Market Inc., and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., want guaranteed volumes, set prices for an entire season, and the ability to trace produce back to its source in the event of a food-related health scare, among other things.

But such standards, and other formal trappings of the business world - contracts, lawyers, technology - often conflict with the ethics, and practical considerations, of small-scale farmers, especially those who are deeply religious.

"They feel they are producing something as safe and secure as their relationship with the Lord," said David Watson of the Association of Family Farms.

Moreover, growers in temperate climates don't have a 12-month supply of produce. "Trying to match what the buyers need with what's being planted" is one of the biggest challenges, said Richard Rohrer, a Mennonite farmer and manager of the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction.

When one large buyer recently demanded insurance - which is needed in case a fruit or vegetable makes someone ill - the Dayton farmers balked.

"We deal more on the handshake, personal commitment - look the grower in the eye," said farmer Vernon Hoover, the Dayton auction's independent buyer.

Still, Amish and Mennonite and even nonreligious small-scale growers in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Tennessee, and other states are mindful of the money to be made from this emerging relationship with big distributors. And they are willing to engage in some horse trading to create business relationships.

For example, they want industry demands such as specialty boxes and company labels to be factored into their price, according to Rich Pirog, associate director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. And while wholesale markets, or auctions, benefit the food industry by bringing together larger numbers of growers in one location, they also make it easier for smaller growers to make connections to representatives of big companies and their resources, including refrigerated trucks and bar-code labels.

"If you have a quality product, consistently packaged, don't top dress by taking the worst and putting it on the bottom - all that is the way you build your name here at the auction," Charlie Martin, the Dayton auction's board chairman, said. He proudly stood before a large stack of unblemished yellow and green squash that his 16-year-old daughter picked that morning, wearing surgical gloves to avoid marring their flesh.