Farmers markets across the Hudson Valley said goodbye to the steady stream of faithful customers at the end of October. Goshen”™s farmers market folded its collective tents Oct. 29, the chill in the air finding farmers and food vendors bundled in winter coats and handing out cards to those who want to find the brick-and-mortar stores some vendors own.
One vendor, S&SO Farms in Goshen, was selling its own brand of marinara sauce, packed by Farm-to-Table Co-Packers in Kingston. Ken Demarest, helping out at the farmstand, said it”™s another way for farmers to maximize the return on their investment for their yield.
More than 30 Hudson Valley farmers are already using the services of Farm-to-Table, co-founded by Luc Roels and Jim Hyland, former customers of Hudson Valley Food Works in Poughkeepsie, which is now closed. The two were already producing and packaging products for several farmers in Poughkeepsie, but the space was not big enough to fill the growing demand.
The two decided to open their own food processing facility in June, taking over IBM”™s former kitchen in Tech City, all 20,000 square feet of it.
“It was perfect for our needs,” Roels said. Already equipped, it provided enough space to meet Farm-to-Table”™s needs. Besides their own customers, the pair wanted to provide a service to farmers to keep good food from going to waste.
Farmer Susan Hepworth in Milton called on Farm-To-Table when her organic tomato crop was flattened by the 2010 ice storm. “It was not marketable,” said Roels, “and she didn”™t know what to do. It represented a huge investment for her. So we worked out an agreement where she harvested the crop, brought it here, where it was cooked, pureed and frozen ”“ all on consignment. We found a buyer ”“ Brooklyn Salsa wanted to continue making product after the summer season using local tomatoes, so he bought Amy”™s pureed and crushed tomatoes. In return, Amy got paid for the crop that would have been otherwise plowed under.”
Another customer, said Roels, had 500 pounds of garlic scapes he was unable to sell.
“We found a buyer who made garlic scape pesto from them, so again, it was a win for the farmer. He didn”™t have to throw the crop away ”“ they were brought here, processed and frozen ”“ and found a customer who had a use for them. The farmer got paid, and the customer was happy to get farm fresh vegetables grown locally.”
Roels and Hyland are working with nearly three dozen farmers from around the region, adding another revenue stream to their farms and saving “ugly” vegetables, rescuing them from being plowed under.
“We are offering a service we feel is really needed by our farming community. It is difficult for both of us to see good food thrown away simply because it is not ”˜attractive”™ to consumers ”“ it doesn”™t mean it isn”™t delicious or edible,” Roels said. “I think we”™ll be seeing many more farmers utilizing our services. It is definitely a way to help keep our farming community stronger and more viable and to keep Hudson Valley farm products moving on shelves around the metropolitan area.”
Because jarred or canned products must meet stringent regulations, Roels and Hyland have a list of approved recipes from the Department of Food Services at Cornell University in Geneva.
“These recipes have been tested for pH, shelf life, amount of time needed to cook and the temperature they need to be cooked at to be safe for consumption and other standards that must be met. To try to go about trying to market a product on your own is too time-consuming and labor intensive; the approved recipes cut out a lot of the red tape. Farmers can improvise a bit with some spices, but really must stay within the guidelines of the approved recipes. For our farms, this adds another layer of income and rescues perfectly good vegetables and fruits from going to waste.”
Demarest said S&SO”™s new marinara sauce is one of the products Hudson Valley residents will be able to enjoy long after the tomato season has come and gone. “Farm-to-Table is a boon to local growers,” he said. “It”™s a perfect match for the farmer who wants to make the months of preparation and hard work the most profitable it can be and for the consumers who want to know where their food is coming from.”