Family Farmed Garlic
The Backhaul process is in motion. Local distribution is growing.
These photos were taken at Tim and Tom’s Speedy Mart in St. Paul, MN.
Local garlic from Big Stone Garlic traveled from the farm in Correll, MN to Bonnie’s Hometown Grocery in Clinton, MN (yellow)- where it was loaded on a truck and backhauled to Mason Brothers Grocery Wholesale, and transferred to Russ Davis Produce Wholesale (orange). Grocery stores around the region ordered the garlic – here are the shelves where it can be found after week one!
We expect the store locations to multiply, and we are pleased with the initial response – the model worked and got the local garlic out to the stores through backhauling. – Ren Olive, Program Associate, Sustainable Development Partnerships | U of Minnesota Extension
Big Stone Garlic is taking part in a University of Minnesota pilot project to get locally grown farm products to small town grocery stores. Check out the MPR segment: Grocers, growers, garlic: Can locally grown take root in Minnesota?
Big Stone Garlic is excited to be part of a Backhauling pilot project with the University of Minnesota Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems group. The projecy leverages our existing network of rural grocery stores and wholesale suppliers to back-haul locally grown produce on emptied wholesale trucks for redistribution through wholesale markets.
This project gives Big Stone Garilc greater access to wholesale markets throughout the region. Wholesale suppliers in turn get access to product from many small and medium sized farms that they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Our garlic is the very first product in this pilot project. If successsful, this U of M project has the potential to be replicated across the country. It is super exiting to work alongside the U of M and other folks on the food supply chain on the state and even federal level.
Bottom line is that Big Stone Garlic has better access to a larger market.
Welcome to Big Stone Garlic’s 2017 Season! Thank you to all of you who stopped in to see us at the 2017 MN Garlic Festival. It was great to see so many familiar faces and make new acquaintances. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Minnesota’s Garlic Festival, it is a festival created by the Central Minnesota Sustainable Farming Association. It is held the second weekend in August, and celebrates everything garlic as well as supporting a healthy environment and sustainable farms.
Next year, the 13th annual festival will be August 11th, 2018. I hope to see you there.
