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Walk down the long rows of melons, peppers, tomatoes,
pumpkins, flowers and other agricultural products at the Clearspring
Produce Auction and you’d think a megafarm is behind the bounty.
Not so. About 40 small farmers—many of
them Amish—pooled their ideas and resources to establish this
growing LaGrange County growers association, which rang up about
$430,000 in sales in 2002.
Although the auction is another way for the partnering
farmers to sell their produce, the growers association is more about
survival, says Steve Western, Clearspring’s manager.
“The Amish want to farm 20 acres of corn
and milk 15 cows, and that doesn’t cut it anymore. You’ve
got to be bigger,” Western says. “For these Amish boys
to stay on a 60- or 80-acre farm, they’re going to have to
diversify with this produce. This is the up and coming thing.”
As Clearspring developed into a regional agricultural
business, its partners have increasingly turned to Purdue University
for technical and management advice. To help other producer groups
statewide also get off on the right foot, Purdue Extension specialists
and county educators have formed the New Ventures Team.
The team is made up of Extension specialists
in agribusiness marketing, consumer economics, community development,
food processing and rural business development, as well as Extension
educators from 13 Indiana counties.
The team’s mission is to provide educational
information and other services to Hoosier producers interested in
starting value-added and alternative agricultural businesses. “There
are lots of different reasons for Extension to be involved in value-added
enterprises,” says Steve Engleking, Extension educator in
LaGrange County and a New Ventures Team member. “One is the
profitability of the small farm. Small farms usually employ part-time
people. They probably have as much or a greater need for education
than some of the larger farms, which tend to turn to fertilizer
and seed dealers for technical advice.”
Small farms also strengthen national security—an
important issue in these troubling times. “A decentralized
food system is harder for terrorists to attack,” says Engleking,
who’s worked with Clearspring the past three years. “It’s
also good for the overall economy. Small businesses employ most
of the people in this country.”
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