Kentucky
Produce Farmers
Go to Market,
to Market
by Martha Jackson
For decades, Kentucky's major crop napped in the tobacco barn before it ever went to market, and when it arrived, buyers were ready and waiting. But produce? You pick it fresh and sell it fast. Finding the markets—ah, that's the trick.
Produce auction in Fairview.
Most produce farmers will tell you it's not easy. But some new marketing avenues are emerging, and others are growing. Here's a look at some of them.
Produce Auctions
If the auctioneer hadn't been staring at tomatoes and the numbers had been higher, you would swear you were back in the days of burley on the block.
“Do-I-hear-40-40-40-45-45-45? Do-I–hear 50-50-50? Sold at 45…”
And so it went on this Tuesday morning in southwest Kentucky in Fairview, where a man with a microphone walked his buyers through cardboard boxes of squash, green beans, peppers, even sugar cane.
At produce auctions, wholesale-sized lots of produce are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The idea came to Kentucky with the Mennonite and Amish families who migrated here from other states in the 1990s. The Fairview Auction in Christian County was founded by the Mennonites in 1998. Now, three other produce auctions have emerged: in Lincoln County, propelled by local Amish farmers; in Bath County as part of the new Bath County Agricultural Education and Marketing Center (see related story); and in Mason County as the Buffalo Trace Produce and Hay Auction.
Steve Sauder, manager and one of the auctioneers at the Fairview Auction, said that its sellers grossed $1.2 million in the sale of produce, hay, and flowers in the latest season for which figures are available.
Success, Sauder said, has been “because of the growers. They don't hold back any reserves, and the buyers respect us.”
Those buyers include people who buy to re-sell at on-farm or farmers' markets, independent grocers, and restaurants.
State Parks Produce Marketing Program
The way Bob Perry tells it, he was simply looking for a fresh tomato, and he couldn't find one. That's how the idea of using fresh produce at state resort parks was born.
Perry, a Kentucky native who spent 20 years as a chef across two hemispheres, had come home to be director of food services for the state parks system.
He and Matt Ernst, extension associate in UK's Department of Agricultural Economics, went on the road in the winter of 2004-2005 to promote, in grower meetings across the state, a win-win proposition: farmers would connect with the chef at the state park in their area, find out what fresh produce the chef could use, and sell it to the park at a price pre-established by the parks system.
“The state parks purchase more than $250,000 a year in fresh produce, and we would like to buy as much as possible from our local farmers,” Perry said.
And, privately-owned restaurants across the state—at last count 16 of them—are not only using Kentucky fresh produce, they're crowing about it. These restaurants are being reimbursed for part of their advertising costs through an innovative program called Restaurant Rewards, sponsored by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
Chef Eric Clippert uses locally grown products at Two Rivers Restaurant in General Butler State Park.
Farmers' Markets
On any given summer morning in Kentucky, shoppers converge on farmers' markets across the state to buy products as exotic as white eggplant and as ordinary as turnip greens.
“A decade ago, we had a handful of farmers' markets across the state. Now we've got 90 or more,” said Tim Woods, associate extension professor in agricultural economics.
Last year, farmers' markets in Kentucky grossed more than $7 million—about one-fourth of the state's total gross for produce.
 Lexington Farmers' Market, which has more than 65 members, began over 30 years ago.
These markets can be large, like the market in Boone County, or more modest, like the one in Martin County, but they are a strong component of successful marketing for many producers. The Boone County market began in the late 1980s with four or five farmers selling produce and flowers in a parking lot.
Five years ago, the local extension board purchased property with the idea that it would house both extension offices and the farmers' market. The site was well-chosen. Not only does it have the efficiencies that come with being adjacent to extension offices, it reaps the rewards of being halfway between Florence and Burlington on a major highway and close to I-275.
Local extension agents have led in the efforts to bring the market to the place where it is today. Last season, 52 producers sold seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and they may extend the hours this year.
“Our producers gross about $750,000 a year,” said Jerry Brown, the county's extension ag agent. “Some people make a few thousand dollars; some do over $100,000 in volume.”
In Martin County, with leadership from the local extension council and district board, agents have shepherded the growth of its farmers' market. When extension moved to new property four years ago, a shelter was added to accommodate the market and other local activities.
The Martin County market has six to eight regular vendors. Like others across the state, it has benefited from USDA food vouchers for senior citizens and women with children eligible for government assistance. Last season, more than half of the $26,000 grossed at the Martin County market came from those vouchers.
Other Produce Marketing
Four growers cooperatives in the state are still active, and on-farm retailing remains strong. Many farms doing on-farm retailing are incorporating u-pick and value-added goods into their product mix and becoming destination markets, where customers enjoy the ambience of the farm.
“We have 75 to 100 folks we know are active, and another 50 to 100 beyond that who are under the radar screen,” Woods said.
The Kentucky Farm Bureau assists many of these enterprises with advertising and promotion through its Certified Roadside Farm Market program.
Working with KDA The Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the College work closely in helping producers find ways to successfully market their produce.
“We work with UK at all levels. We put the systems in place, and the College provides the on-the-ground leadership, county by county,” said Michael Judge '77, who heads the Office of Agricultural Marketing and Product Promotion.
The Division of Value-Added Plant Production is part of that office, and it is directed by another College alum, Mac Stone '79, '84.
Stone's office works with the College's horticulturalists on varieties, agricultural economists on issues such as pricing, and county agents on developing farmers' markets.
Profit for the Hardy
More and more, Kentucky growers are finding that with skill, experience, and innovation, there is money to be made.
“Marketing is especially important with produce,” Woods said. “It is a process of producers building relationships with buyers to find out what's needed.”
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