Profile of The Farm of Plenty

This month, The Local Farm is excited to feature The Farm Of Plenty. Located in Brainerd, Minnesota, The Farm of Plenty is run by Al Jabs, farmer/master gardener; Dr. James Davis, Managing Director; and Christian McShane, apprentice farmer/master gardener in conjunction with many workshare members and volunteers. Here’s our interview with Al.

How did The Farm of Plenty get its start?
I’ve been a farmer for my whole life. Up until five years ago, I was a dairy farmer and I grew organic produce for a CSA. Every fall, I would have a corn maze and a pumpkin patch too. But then I was in a serious accident. I was run over by a tractor and everything from my waist up was crushed. During my recovery, I realized that I was lucky to be alive and that I probably wouldn’t be able to farm as long as I had originally planned. I started talking with some friends and CSA members about taking a new approach and starting a community-owned farm.

What has that process been like?
It’s been a long one! When we initially conceived of The Farm of Plenty two years ago, we had a vision: it would be a community-owned farm, we would train individuals, we would help send kids to college in exchange for a work commitment, we would be sustainable and progressive. But then we found out that in Minnesota, as in a dozen other states, there’s a corporate farm law. This law states that any nonrelated group of people cannot own farmland nor can they farm it. Our legislators intended this law to deter big corporate farms. But if you look around, that hasn’t stopped them. We’re now working to get an amendment to this law, which would allow individuals to farm a maximum of 160 acres and set up a nonprofit with a cooperative structure.

Tell us about your farm’s produce.
We’re proud to offer 500 different varieties of produce, of which 98% are heirlooms. We wanted to set ourselves apart and not use hybrid seeds. Heirlooms allow us to save our seeds, and sometimes we even come up with an unexpected cross of our own! All of our varieties are at least 50 – if not 100 – years old. This is stuff that people haven’t tasted for awhile, but they may remember them from their childhood or visiting their grandparents’ farm.

What sets your CSA apart?
Of our 155 acres, 100 acres are tillable. That much acreage will allow us to feed many, many people. While we offer our regular CSA, we were recently approved to be one of the few in the nation to also offer an EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer). We’ll be able to offer fresh, local, and organic food to people on food stamps. We have six counties in our area, and one of them has the highest unemployment rate in the state. Through this program, we’re able to offer people on food stamps a regular CSA share at half the price. We also have a number of chefs that volunteer to offer cooking lessons and share recipes.

What are your plans for expansion?
Right now, between the CSA and EBT programs, we have 125 to 200 shares. But we could easily go up to 1000, since we have so much acreage. Our membership is in open enrollment, and we have dedicated a full 50 acres to the EBT program to ensure that healthy produce is available to low-income families in our area. We’re now branching out to St. Cloud and St. Paul, and we plan to donate any excess food to local food shelves and soup kitchens.

How has Local Dirt helped your farm?
I spend most of my days out in the field – planting, weeding, and harvesting. It can be time-consuming to continuously take calls from CSA members or others who have specific requests or questions on available produce. Rather than constantly sending out newsletters, I felt that there had to be something better out there. We tried some other sites similar to Local Dirt, but they were rudimentary and not what we were looking for. As soon as I found Local Dirt, I knew that I found our answer. I could log in, create invoices, upload pictures, and post available produce. If our CSA members want extra produce, they can log into Local Dirt, and then we can add it to their box on delivery day. When you’ve got 500 varieties of produce, it can be hard to keep track of it all. But Local Dirt has been such an asset for our farm and our shareholders.