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
The Backhaul Project is a collaborative effort with the University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships(RSDP). The pivot point of this project is a grant titled “Connecting Small and Medium-Sized Farms to Existing Wholesale Markets through Backhauling from Rural Grocery Stores”.
Here is how the project works: Bonnie’s Hometown Market in Clinton, MN gets a delivery from her wholesaler. After the delivery is complete at Bonnie’s there is open space on the delivery truck. Big Stone Garlic drops off garlic prepared for sale to Bonnie’s at the time of her wholesale delivery to get the garlic on the delivery truck back to the warehouse and then distributed to groceries in the area. Big Stone Garlic will be available this week in many grocery stores in the 5 State Area!!!
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.