The Daily Press – Ashland, WI
By CHAD DALLY
Supporting the local agricultural network has always been a priority for the Chequamegon Food Cooperative.
But its board of directors recently announced that the co-op is looking to take a bold step and become directly involved in farming through the purchase of a Bayfield County farm.
Board members on Monday shared what details are available so far about the purchase of the 80-acre Betzold orchard and farm, located along the so-called “fruit loop” on County Highway J.
The deal has not been closed, but owners of the land have accepted an offer of $238,000 made late last month. The farm is one of the oldest in the area, but has not been operated for the past three years, and it has been on the market for the past two years.
“We’re committed to local agriculture and we hate to see a farm like this not be a productive farm, which is a big possibility,” Tim White, general manager of the co-op, said during an interview Monday afternoon. “We’re losing small farms left and right.”
If finalized, the move could put the Chequamegon Co-op in unique territory: White said he could find only one other co-op in the country, The Wedge in Minneapolis, that has purchased its own farm.
White and Charly Ray, president of the board of directors, said Monday that structural changes made since White took over in March as general manager have put the co-op on more sound financial footing to the point that such a purchase could even be possible. The business was in the black last year but is expected to turn a profit of around $50,000 this year, White said.
The land is locked up for perpetuity in a conservation easement through Bayfield Township, which guarantees that the land can only be used for agricultural purposes. The Bayfield Regional Conservancy monitors and enforces the easement, which was purchased with the help of a U.S.
Department of Agriculture farm ranch protection grant.
More than 300 apple trees stand throughout the property, along with cherry, pear and plum trees. Berries have also been grown there in the past. Board members said that once the farm is back up and running, its produce could be sold directly at the farm or through the co-op. But they stressed that they would look to complement, not compete with, existing farmers.
“We don’t want to compete locally with producers who do sell most of their produce to the local area,” Ed Morales, another board member, said Monday afternoon. “Since we’re the co-op and we have this business, we also have the ability to go to a broader market, whereas some smaller producers may not have that ability.”
Added Ray: “It’s one of the first concerns of the board of directors, and everybody in the co-op that we’ve talked to, is that the farm support and not negatively impact the farmers.”
Instead, the core, money-making part of the business could be in its wholesale potential to send produce on to bigger cities like Duluth or Minneapolis. Board members said Monday night that the wholesale operation may consume 10 to 20 percent of the property, and if successful, could pay for a full-time, professional farm manager. It could also take some pressure off the rest of the property to turn a profit, they said.
The professional manager would be the key to a successful operation, since board members readily admitted Monday they are not qualified to run a farm. Ray also said some farmers have offered to lend their green thumbs to the operation.
“We’ll anticipate that we’ll have a manager, and we’ve already had several farmers in the area express interest in helping with the farm,” he said. “This is just the first meeting, but so far the response has been really supportive and a lot of unsolicited offers for volunteering, and we see that as a real possibility.”
Ray said Tuesday the board will also be contacting area fruit growers to set up a January meeting and receive their input about the operation.
Regional impact
Aside from the financial possibilities for the farm itself and other farmers in the area, Morales said “the possibilities are endless.” They envision a farm that works to educate college and even K-12 students about agriculture, and possibly the development of an internship program. They also said the farm could serve as a distribution point for area farms and that some of the land could be leased to existing farmers.
Although board members said the intent behind the purchase is to further develop and enhance the local agricultural scene, an 80-acre farm immediately becomes “the big gorilla on the block” that will undoubtedly influence area farming, said Rick Dale, a fruit grower who operates Highland Valley Farm.
While stating that the idea is “visionary,” Dale said tremendous effort needs to be put into the business plan because success or failure of the farm extends beyond its property lines.
“You’re playing with something here that could hurt something far more than just the co-op,” he said during Monday’s meeting. “You’re talking about the livelihood and agriculture economy of our whole neighborhood.”
Nevertheless, Dale threw his support behind the venture.
“I hope you go forward, because the best way to save farmland is to farm it,” he said. “…You want to save 80 acres of farmland, buy it, farm it and be the best damn farmers you can become.”
Rick Carlson, owner of Blue Vista Farm, said his initial reaction was one of concern because of the impact it would have and that current growers are in dire need of more markets and value-added facilities.
Board members responded that that is exactly what they hope to do through the business end of the cooperative. One scenario could be sending the co-op’s delivery trucks back to their origins loaded with Chequamegon-area produce.
And while Carlson suggested that the co-op stick with current plans of expanding the grocery store to accommodate more local produce, White said the store’s financial outlook is positive enough that it might be able to both expand the store and operate a farm.
And Jennifer Fanucci, another member of the board of directors, said the co-op is not abandoning any of its long-term plans, and even said the farm would not directly affect the co-op’s operation except for $1,000 a month extra on its mortgage payments.
The farm could also boost local food consumption due to the presence of three cold storage buildings that could hold produce well past the harvest months and into the winter.
Tom Galazen, owner of the North Wind Farm outside of Bayfield, said Monday he’d lean toward supporting the operation in part because of the purchase price.
“You can’t lose on buying the place, but you can lose on running the damn thing,” he said.
Likewise, co-op members Andrew and Claudia Broman said from a real estate standpoint alone, the deal is outstanding.
“How often does a Bayfield orchard come (up) for sale?” Andrew Broman said. “There is a finite amount of prime agricultural land up there, and the thing is, we’re moving into an economy where we’re going to want prime agricultural land.”
However, Galazen, who grows his produce organically, said it could be a “nightmare” trying to do the same at the Betzold farm because pesticides and fumigants were historically part of the growing process.
The remnants of those chemicals still exist in the soil, mainly in the form of lead arsenate. White said one contingency of the purchase agreement was testing of the soil and water around the farm, but Ray said Monday those tests revealed all contamination to be below the state’s level of concern.
Out of the fruit loop?
Galazen also said during the meeting, however, that the purchase agreement should have included another provision that the deal be contingent upon approval from the approximately 2,000 members of the co-op.
Others at the meeting also expressed their surprise that the members were not made aware of the deal until after the purchase agreement was signed.
Board members agreed that they moved quickly on the deal, but that it was necessary because they were told of seven or eight other parties interested in the property.
Board member Sean Duffy said there was never an intent to disregard the membership.
“I honestly thought that we were representing the best interests of the membership,” he said. “It’s on the cutting edge, yes, but I thought it was the best way to go forward, use the assets that we have at the co-op and take what we’re doing to a new level.”
Morales also said the board was elected to represent the members, and is doing its job by looking to the horizon.
“One of the primary purposes of the board is to invest the funds that the co-op does take in into the future,” he said. “In that sense, the board was acting within one of its primary purposes.”
Members were also told that the main reason they were not informed about the deal is because sensitive negotiations were happening over the purchase price, and that effort could have been hampered by bringing 2,000 people into the fold.
Yet members like Betty Braunstein and others said Monday that the issue is not the price but the process, and that the board could’ve informed the members about the overall concept of purchasing a farm without delving into financial specifics.
Fanucci said while the whole process did move quickly, the board still worked through many hours of e-mails and face-to-face meetings to reach the point of making a bid, and their excitement over a long-term vision and relatively smooth negotiations contributed to the pace.
“We talked it out with each other and decided that the vision is a really good one – we got excited about a member-owned farm, we got excited about helping local agriculture and we made a bid,” she said during the meeting. “Had that not gone the way we wanted, this would’ve been a longer process, but because our bid went the way we felt was responsible, as far as the purchase of this farm, we went ahead with it.”
