An innovative partnership among the Landisville Produce Cooperative, the Food Bank of South Jersey, and its agencies is helping farmers stabilize revenues while feeding hungry people.
By Matt Skoufalos | July 25, 2024
A field of dandelion greens at Ploch Farms in Vineland. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
Ploch Farms, Inc. was established as a dairy farm in 1880, and has been growing produce since 1915.
Its 200 acres of triple-cropped Vineland soil employs a staff of two dozen workers who grow, harvest, and pack leafy produce, like spinach, swiss chard, dandelion greens.
Farm work is physical, time-consuming labor that is undertaken in all kinds of weather conditions.
It’s expensive to farm, and profit margins are slim; moreover, because the acquisition of farmland is so costly and difficult, more than half the farmers in New Jersey operate on land that is leased.
Farms like the Plochs’ are largely generational, with the institutional memory of those who work the land handed down throughout a lifetime of effort and investment.
New Jersey works to support farming and the longevity of the farm businesses through farmland preservation and tax and policy initiatives, but “citizen loyalty and support” — in the form of farmers markets, farm-to-table restaurants, and community supported agriculture (CSA) — is also significant, Peter Furey, Executive Director of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, said.
“When they see the moral support of the policy people, it makes a difference,” Furey said.
Farmers control for all the variables they can, but are nonetheless beholden to commodification of their goods in a global market, shipping infrastructure that brings items to market out of season, and technological advancements that drive down prices, Furey said.
“People don’t understand how hard it is to make a living” on the farm, John Ploch said. “We want people to appreciate the effort that the farmers are undertaking to keep you fed.”
From the time of harvest to the time of sale, produce might only last three days, making spoilage an issue that affects not only pricing stability but also overhead costs.
If it spoils before it can be sold, “then it goes into the dumpster,” Ryan Ploch said.
Having consistent orders for produce that can sell at a fair price is as meaningful to farmers as is seeing the fruits of their labor reach the tables of those who need it the most. That’s why a purchasing arrangement with the Food Bank of South Jersey is helping support farmers and food-insecure New Jerseyans at the same time.
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin tours Ploch Farms in Vineland. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
‘There’s people who need this food’
The intermediary in this agreement is the 110-year-old, farmer-owned Landisville Produce Cooperative, the oldest fruit and vegetable co-op in America.
Farmers typically sell their goods to second-party brokers, who then move it to retailers, and then to shoppers at grocery stores.
With support from the New Jersey Food and Hunger Grant program, the Food Bank of South Jersey buys directly from the Co-Op, which then distributes those purchases to agencies that deliver the food directly to food-insecure families across South Jersey.
Sales from the program already account for maybe 5 to 10 percent of the revenues brought in at Ploch Farms, Ryan Ploch said. Landisville Co-Op General Manager Felix Donato said that’s evidence that the arrangement is working for the participating farmers as much as it’s working for the people they’re feeding.
“Any percentage increase to what you’re already selling is a good thing,” Donato said. “If it’s 5 percent, 10 percent, 3 percent, it’s more product that you move than you normally would.”
Donato, whose great-grandfather Felice, was one of the founding members of the Landisville Co-Op when it was established in 1914, grew up on an apple and peach farm. He’s intimately connected to the struggles of both farming and food insecurity, and said the arrangement with the Food Bank is a win for everyone involved.
“The program itself generates the capacity for us to get more product from our growers,” Donato said. “It’s a chance for them to increase their sales with the need from the food banks for more product.”
In the first three months of the program in 2022, the Food Bank purchased 155,000 pounds of produce from the Co-Op, and distributed that across its partner agencies. By 2023, that number had climbed to 350,000 pounds annually, and in 2024, it’s projected to hit nearly half-a-million pounds.
Those purchases account for around 8 or 9 percent of total business at the Co-Op, or some 1,000 to 1,500 boxes of fresh produce a week — numbers that Donato describes as indicative of the efforts of the Food Bank and its partner agencies to combat food insecurity in the region.
“It’s really a testament to those people,” he said, “because I don’t think they could do the job that they do without caring as much as they do.
“We get a lot of satisfaction at the cooperative distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, because in a food-insecure family, that’s your first line of defense against infectious disease,” Donato said.
“We really found a common ground with the Food Bank caring about this program,” he said.
The Landisville Produce Co-Op connects farmers, brokers, and shoppers in South Jersey. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
“There’s people who need this produce; they need this food.
“You have to be able to get behind something like this, and it benefits the growers; it benefits the economy in New Jersey, Donato said.
“It’s an outstanding program and we need it to grow.”
Greg Loder, Director of Marketing and Advocacy at the Food Bank of South Jersey, said the agency is required to direct a minimum of 10 percent of its grant funding into purchasing New Jersey-grown produce.
The partnership with the Landisville Co-Op helps by reinvesting those funds into the farming community as well as facilitating on-demand drop shipments that help both farmers and food-insecure people.
“We’re real appreciative of the state support,” Loder said. “Under the partnership with the Co-Op, we don’t have to go farm to farm with this.”
Ashley MacPherson, Director of Food Sourcing at Food Bank of South Jersey, said the agreement is a rare partnership that also facilitates logistical efforts as well as food sourcing. When either the produce supply or customer need changes, the Food Bank and Co-Op can pivot, assuring that mixed boxes of produce reach their intended destinations within an hour of drop-off.
“It’s very efficient to have a centralized point of contact that is farm-owned and has the farm’s best interests in mind,” MacPherson said. “It saves a lot of steps along the way.”
Moreover, the drop-ship efforts of co-op delivery enables those food pantries that don’t have the ability or capacity to refrigerate food to provide fresh produce without fear of spoilage.
“There’s no question that produce is always the lowest-cost, highest-nutritious food that we could purchase for our neighbors,” MacPherson said. “We work with Landisville to get it just in time for their neighbors.
“Whenever we can buy from what’s nearby, it’s best for the community as a whole,” she said. “I can see the upstream impact. Once the ball is rolling, it’s beautiful. It works really, really well.”
NJ Assemblymen William Spearman (left) and Craig Coughlin tour farmer Ryan Ploch’s field. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
‘We have the challenge’
On Monday, New Jersey Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D, NJ-19) and Assemblyman Bill Spearman (D, NJ-05) toured Ploch Farms with MacPherson, Loder, Furey, and Donato to learn more about how the partnership is connecting the scattered elements of food supply, distribution, and consumption.
Coughlin highlighted the $85 million dedicated to food insecurity issues in New Jersey in the fiscal 2024 budget as working towards a policy priority of ending statewide hunger.
The farm visit offered an opportunity to “understand what the challenges are from the people who live it,” he said.
For farmers, those issues include everything from climate change and market conditions to maintaining revenues in a competitive industry.
“What makes them more profitable is a stable buyer,” Coughlin said. “Margins are slim. They can’t deal with having empty boxes of unsold food. The market gets crowded, and prices get soft.
“We’ve made it a priority to bring attention by talking about it,” he said. “We have terrific food banks, free breakfast and lunch at schools, and we’re developing food pantries, banks, and programs.
“Farmers have been great partners,” Coughlin said. “We have to make sure we get the food to people. We have the challenge; the Co-Op has done a terrific job.”
“Agriculture is economic development,” Spearman said. “It’s a great investment.”
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