Farm Stories from SSAWG

Love Creek Orchards

Carol and Baxter Adams added value to their Texas grown apples by building a commercial kitchen to process pies, pastries, and preserves that are marketed to their customers through on farm sales and mail order.

Persimmon Hill Farm

The Bohner Family of Missouri expanded their pick-your-own berry and apple farm to include jams, jellies, and baked goods, as well as a savory sauce from their own mushrooms. Assistance from a local chef and university folks have helped them along.

Maple Springs Gardens

Ken Dawson and Libby Outlaw of North Carolina have farmed for 20 years, and have found adding value to vegetable crops, like washed and bagged salad mix, adds to the sustainability of their direct-market operation.

Green Farm

Under the name of Luke's Natural Products, the Green family of Alabama transforms their peanuts into a peanut butter in their on-farm roastery and kitchen that has found popularity in natural food stores throughout the South.

Harris Farms

In Tennessee, Alvin and Shirley Harris have found that growing blueberries are big, and jams, jellies, and preserves are growing bigger.

Johnson's Orchard

Included in Danny and Nancy Johnson's Virginia U-pick apple orchard operation are cider, apple butter, and relishes that increase customer expenditure at their farm stand.

Maple Springs Gardens markets their value-added products along with other goods directly to consumers through farmers' markets.

Links to other resources:

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (ATTRA) has published a number of resources for on-farm value-added producers available online through a searchable database.

List of Alternative Crops & Enterprises for Small Farm Diversification from Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) provides suggestions for specialty crops and farm enterprises.  Also includes links to government and university resources in the South and elsewhere.

Alternative Enterprises and Agritourism is an NRCS technical resource publication that includes success stories, information sheets, resource manual, and links to additional resources for value-added operations.

Direct Marketing with Value-Added Products published by the University of California SARE Program as part of a 1993 study on retail farmers' markets and rural development.

Online sales can provide access to markets otherwise unreachable.  Farmers' Market Online and Local Harvest both offer opportunities for internet sales of value added agricultural products.

Funding Sources

USDA Rural Development provides funding for Enterprise Development, Business Opportunity, and Value-Added Producers.

The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) has announced calls for the 2005 Grant cycle.

Discussion Forums

If you know of list servers or discussion forums that focus on value-added enterprises for fruit and vegetable farmers, please let us know.  info@ssawg.org