DAYTON, Va. — At the wholesale produce market in this Mennonite community, farming families arrive by horse and buggy and pallets are stacked high with freshly harvested Shenandoah Valley onions, corn, green peppers and squash.
The setting evokes a simpler, pre-industrial era. In reality, small-scale farmers are experiencing growing pains as they adapt to the country’s expanding diet for locally grown foods and the exacting demands of high-volume distributors of their produce.
Companies such as Sysco, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart want guaranteed volumes, set prices for an entire season and the ability to trace produce back to its source in the event of a food-related health scare, among other things.
However, such standards and other formal trappings of the business world — contracts, attorneys, technology — often conflict with the ethics and practical considerations of small-scale farmers, especially those who are deeply religious.
“They feel they are producing something as safe and secure as their relationship with the Lord,” said David Watson of the Association of Family Farms.
Moreover, growers in temperate climates don’t have a 12-month supply of produce.
“Trying to match what the buyers need with what’s being planted” is one of the biggest challenges, said Richard Rohrer, a Mennonite farmer and manager of the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction.
When one large buyer recently demanded insurance — which is needed in case a fruit or vegetable makes someone ill — the Dayton farmers balked.
“We deal more on the handshake, personal commitment — look the grower in the eye,” said farmer Vernon Hoover, the Dayton auction’s independent buyer.
Wholesale markets, or auctions, make it easier for smaller growers to make connections to representatives of big companies and their resources, including refrigerated trucks and bar-code labels.
