Farm Fresh for Chefs
Organic produce, grass-based dairy and milk, cheeses including cave-aged cheeses, Pequa Valley yogurts, pastured poultry, eggs, ground beef
Farm Fresh for Chefs is a cooperative of 5 Amish-run family farms located southeast of Lancaster, PA. Situated within a 10 mile radius of each other, the farms raise products ranging from certified organic vegetables to grass-fed dairy. The coop was founded 6 years ago this May, after one of the farmers was turned on to a direct marketing approach by his veterinarian. The approach turned out to be very successful and has allowed the farms involved to become more financially viable. Beginning with only restaurant sales, the coop now also supplies small retail stores and its own CSA.
Aaron Stoltzfus is the contact person and deliveryman for Farm Fresh for Chefs and is often accompanied by one or two of his sons on deliveries into Philadelphia. His daughter, Lillian, usually handles the orders. For Aaron, farming is not only a nice way to make a living, but it also provides a way to keep his family together. His Amish Mennonite family also raises poultry and beef and dairy cattle for the cooperative. Since choosing a direct marketing approach, Aaron has diversified his farm as he's realized there is a demand for a wider array of products, such as duck. Direct marketing has also meant embracing new enterprises, such as cheesemaking. Not only are such value-added ventures often more profitable for small farms, but Aaron also enjoys seeing all the different things you can do with your products - for him, watching his milk be turned into cheese and yogurt. One of the Farm Fresh farms even boasts a cheese cave for aging such specialty cheeses as a Cave-Aged Raw Milk Cheddar and Pennsylvania Noble.
Most dairy farmers in the Lancaster area still send most of their milk away on a tank truck to a large processing plant, and their meat away to a slaughterhouse. With this approach to farming, Aaron notes that there are fewer farmers now than there were in the 1970s, and that this method of farming is due for a change. Since he's joined Farm Fresh for Chefs, he's begun to see a future for small family farms in a different approach, one where connections are drawn and links made between farmers and consumers. As more and more people want products that are raw, hormone-free, and directly off the farm, this approach to farming will prove financially profitable for family farmers. He admits that this change won't happen overnight, and along the way, some people will still have to get out of farming. Problems such as new permit regulations will serve as bumps in the road; most farmers aren't interested in spending the money required to get a permit from the state for products such as raw milk. However, this shift can be made, as Farm Fresh for Chefs demonstrates. Aaron had his own challenges and learning curve to face when he transitioned away from using herbicides and pesticides 10-12 years ago. However, Farm Fresh for Chefs' success has proven that farms can weather that transition period and, in the end, come out ahead with an approach to farming that could offer the next generation a financially feasible way to continue farming.
