New food distributor links farms to Louisville markets

By BILL HOLLERAN, Marketing Matters editor

One of the major challenges facing farmers today is finding time to market their products or accessing new markets. Some of us spend all our time growing and harvesting our crops, and marketing can seem time consuming and frustrating. Veteran producers will tell you not to grow it if you can’t sell it.  

If you enjoy production more than marketing and need an outlet for your products, there is a new local food distributor in Kentucky purchasing food products from local growers.

“Grasshoppers’ goal is to help rural producers access Louisville markets,” said Grasshoppers manager Berea Ernst. “We purchase food products from farmers that are sold to independent restaurants and grocery stores in the Louisville area. The company is in its second season, and business is good – we’re already making plans for next year.”

Ernst credits institutions such as the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (KCARD), the University of Kentucky, and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board as being helpful in sharing their expertise to get them started. “We’re trying to be the link in this new agriculture economy. Marketing and distribution are the biggest challenges farmers face, and we are trying to fill the missing link,” said Ernst.

Grasshoppers works on the “just-in-time” business philosophy. It doesn’t warehouse product, so everything stays fresh. “We maintain freshness by not storing product for more than 18 hours,” said Ernst.

On Mondays producers notify Grasshoppers of what products they have available that week. Sales people then write orders after notifying Grasshoppers customers of what’s available. On Thursday producers deliver products to Louisville or have them picked up by a truck that makes stops along Interstate 64 between Louisville and Lexington. Orders are then delivered to customers on Friday. “What makes us unique is that we list on each invoice where the product originated and also offer producer profiles for customers that want to ‘source-verify’ these products,” Ernst said. “We are also encouraging producers to join the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Kentucky Proud program. Producers are required to join the program in order to continue doing business with Grasshoppers.

“We’ve purchased products from over 50 producers and have not turned any reputable farmer away,” said Ernst. Farmers’ market vendors typically receive between 50-70 percent of the prices generated by retail sales. Prices are determined by looking at USDA wholesale produce terminal market prices and the Kentucky farmers’ market report prices.

Grasshoppers operated a 70-member CSA this season and plans to grow the CSA for 2009. It is also looking for producers that want to wholesale part of their crops next year. For more information about Grasshoppers’ services or opportunities, visit its listing on Local Harvest at http://www.localharvest.org/member/M20823 or call Berea Ernst at (502) 708-1881.

This article first appeared in the Aug. 27, 2008 edition of Marketing Matters. To read Marketing Matters in its entirety, click here.