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Linking Farms And Schools

David Eddy By David Eddy|March 11, 2013

AgLink

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It’s almost criminal, Jana Nairn was saying, how little of the average food dollar in the U.S. goes to farmers, pointing at a graphic showing it is a measly 14¢. Nairn says that’s why she and her husband, Rob, founded a new Internet e-commerce website, Ag Link, at the beginning of the current school year. “How to put more money in farmers’ pockets has always been an interest of mine,â€� she says.

The Nairns live in the small town of Ballico, CA, in the northern San Joaquin Valley. After they each attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo — both studying ag in some form — they returned to the family farm where they primarily grow 200 acres of almonds. They also run a business called Rubber Bark, where they turn old tires into playground material, which proved helpful in making school connections vital to the success of Ag Link.

The e-business does just what it says, providing a link for growers to sell their produce directly to the schools. Rob chimes on his wife’s point about how unfair the traditional sales model is to farmers. “The grower takes the risk, but he only gets a small piece of the pie,� he says. “With Ag Link, if the grower takes up a little of the distribution, he will get a much bigger piece of the pie.�

Adds Jana: “Also, the schools pay less, and the kids get better tasting produce,� she says. “Where do you stop with the win/win/win scenario here?�

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Huge Interest

Ag Link certainly makes sense to a number of people, as since August they’ve signed up districts with a total of 49 schools and more than 100 growers. Rob thought it would be an easy sell to growers, but tougher for the schools because they wouldn’t want to deal with so many growers. But many school administrators caught on right away.
“A lot of the growers are the same growers they were buying from before,� he said. “We’ve just eliminated the middleman.�
Once school administrators realized they just had to go on the website to be in touch with so many growers, they were sold. It was the growers who needed some convincing. “The older generation largely doesn’t understand how the technology will help them,� he says. “You have to explain it to their kids.�

Grower’s View

Lora Villarreal, General Manager, La Rosa and Sons Distributing, Hughson, CA, which farms cherry tomatoes, squash and pumpkins:

Villarreal says the Ag Link program has had such an impact on their sales that they will be planting additional vegetables in the coming months just for their school district customers. “The schools are becoming more and more important to our business,� she says.

They are constantly delivering fruits and vegetables to the schools — so much so, that it’s become a huge part of their business. “We’ll even deliver fruits and veggies from other growers, because we have the trucks,� she says. “We even made a special delivery to Fresno for Brussels sprouts from Watsonville.� (Each city is about 90 minutes away.)

The prices they get from the schools may not be as high as they get from their farm market, but the prices are fair, and they sell a lot more product through the schools. Not only that, but it’s a steady client — and one that will never go out of business.

Besides, it’s great to know they are supplying kids who’ve never had such vegetables otherwise. “There’s a lot of love coming to the schools from the farms,� she concludes.

Nutritionist’s View

 

Scott Soiseth, director, Child Nutrition, Turlock (CA) Unified School District:
The quality and flavor of the farm-fresh produce is just outstanding, says Soiseth. In fact, it’s not just the kids who love it — especially the summer fruits, he concedes — that they now conduct a farmer’s market after school. They talk to the kids about the different varieties. For example, one recent market featured such vegetables as snow peas, grape tomatoes, and yams.

“They love the bright colors, and even though we’re here in the (San Joaquin) Valley, these kids have never eaten fresh fruits and vegetables like this,� he says.
After that they close the deal, so to speak. “Then the next day we introduce those fruits and vegetables into the school lunch program — after they’ve already tried them,� he says.

What he likes about Ag Link is how easy it is to ensure the kids he buys for are eating well. It would be tough for him to work with individual farmers, what with the billing and other paperwork, so he just goes online.

“I buy all my fruits and vegetables for the week in 20 minutes because I know the farmers, the cases, the costs, etc.,� he says. “We only have to cut one check, one purchase order.�

 Rob’s uncle, Dennis, who does a lot of the necessary field work at Ag Link, says many older growers still have a fear of the Internet. It doesn’t help that in the rural areas where they largely live, Internet service has paled in comparison to that enjoyed by urbanites. But usually he can get them to come around by making one single point. “You’re working with a school, so you’ve got a client, a big client, for life,� he says. “Restaurants don’t always last.�

The Need Is There

One other problem growers might have is that they have small operations, and because of that they are in the field all the time tending their crops. Dennis says they have started helping them by posting what they have for sale. And while they won’t deliver for them — Ag Link’s not interested in getting into the trucking business — they will get them set up with a third-party trucking company.

Distribution is actually an advantage for some growers as they have their own fleets of trucks. Because of that, they can make the decision of how far they want to make deliveries. On the other hand, many school districts themselves have fleets of trucks out delivering school lunches etc., and they will sometimes stop and pick up produce from the growers.

Jana says the distribution flexibility illustrates how intent they are on making Ag Link a seamless site. While each school district will see producers listed in the order of how close they are, Ag Link will put the quantity and distance together. While they just started in the Turlock/Modesto area, they are now expanding down to Bakersfield and out to the Pacific Coast. “We feel like we’ve started something special here,� she says.

The response has been overwhelming, adds her husband, likening it to a snowball going downhill. Adds Dennis: “I thought we’d do half the volume Rob originally projected, and it turns out he was low. I thought maybe a case here and a case there, but we got pallet orders right away. It just shows the need’s there.”

 

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David Eddy is the editor of Meister Media Worldwide's American Fruit Grower® magazine. See all author stories here.