Send me to the Web Site

Well it is easy to say that August continues to impress me. Right after we get prepared for the beginning of Excelsior Orchards’ peach harvest, I got a phone call from Dean Schwebach (Schwebach Farm in Moriarty, NM) saying that his corn is ready for harvest. What??! Just when you think things can’t get any better, Local corn comes out of the field.

So for those of you keeping track (like I do), this week we have Sungold and Heirloom Tomatoes from Velarde, NM, Corn from Dean, and Plums & Peaches from Excelsior Orchards. I mean are you kidding me right now? I cannot remember a summer bounty like this in many moons… if ever.

Seeing all of these amazing items, I decided that it was time for me to head into a grocery store to see what the other kids on the playground had in their sandbox. And when you make the effort to leave the ranch, might as well go look at the biggest player in the market, Amazon.

I was nervous walking across the blacktop. How would our prices look compared to this international hulk that everyone loves to write stories about? Has Amazon cracked the code on how to get Organic produce to the people faster and cheaper than anyone else? My poor little heart fluttered as I stepped in the walls and began to look around.

Right away I was hit with this sense of “Wait a minute, this is it? This is what all the hype is about?”

First off it was not easy to find Organic products. Secondly, the prices are really high. And I challenge you to check this out. But Amazon’s prices for conventional non-Local produce is higher than our prices for Local, Organic items that we buy directly from the growers. Conventional peaches $4/lb, we bring you Organic for $3. Melons, plums, tomatoes, potatoes. I went down the list and there was nothing in price, quality or geography from any of the products that was so special.

I have to tell you that I felt so reassured leaving there in the work that we are doing. I feel it in my stomach every day, but to see it black and white with my eyes lifted me even more. We will never have the marketing budget to let millions of people know how important our work is. And honestly, I am fine with that. I am not sure that our model can support millions of mouths to feed without cutting corners. But it sure can feed thousands of mouths in a conscientious and thoughtful way. It also supports so many small local growers.

Look at today for example…we have 200 dozen ears of Corn coming in from Dean and Paul is dropping off 2,500 lbs of Peaches. That is a lot of food amigos and a lot of support for growers who don’t want to play with the Amazons of the world. Our model, through your support, is a viable option for growers who want to expand their production, but don’t want to deal with the dreaded produce brokers.

With our collaborative CSA model, growers will make 2 to 3 times the amount on their harvests as they would by going through the conventional market avenues. So know that your support does amazing things for small growers throughout our region. It gives growers a steady income stream when stores and the Farmers’ Markets can be so inconsistent. Our support of growers will not be deterred by a rainy Saturday morning when folks decide to stay home instead of going to the market. We bring the goods to you rain or shine 🙂

With all of that, let’s take a quick peek at what the field report looks like for August and this late summer.

Peaches. We are on the doorstep to a huge peach year. Get crazy with them over the next few weeks. Paul is keeping his prices down to help us/you move big volume of his fruit. So enjoy them fresh, dry them, freeze them, can them, or buy a case for a friend as an early holiday present. Western CO has one of the best fruit growing regions in the country and so take advantage of this incredible opportunity.

Shiro plums will have their last week this week. What a great season we had with them. More plums to come, but Shiros are my absolute favorite every year.

Corn. We are starting on 6-7 weeks of corn harvest. Enjoy!

Have a great first week back to school, Farmer Monte

Don’t worry, I am not quitting my day job to start a Fruit Art Gallery, but I did just stuff my pie hole with the other half of this melon and wanted to share it with you. These came in today from Las Cruces. Holy Moly for some serious flavor. You’re gonna love them.

What else?? Ah yes, we will be highlighting Nocco’s Green Chile Fettuccine in the Harvest Boxes this week. Amazing with some yellow summer squash and olive oil.

Another huge treat, Paul brought us some Pear cider from some of his blemished fruit at Excelsior. Limited and so I am only going to offer it through the Harvest Boxes this week.

I’m Hungry, Take Me To the Web Site

 

We have some truly amazing members. After last week’s newsletter examining the idea of support for our local food network, I got flooded with emails. The root of all the emails was basically the same; how can we better help local suppliers? So I want to lay out an opportunity for you to chew on and about two changes that we are implementing.

But to begin the festivities this week, I want to look at our Cooler Deposits. We get a lot of complaints and frustrations around the cooler deposits. People don’t want a bunch of money sitting around in deposits. I get it. And we hear from people, “Dude, Farmer M., I am home when the order gets delivered, why the hairball do I need a cooler??” Again, all good suggestions and I get it. So no worries, I have a plan.

All orders will continue to Default into Coolers with the associated deposit. If you do Do Not want your order that week packed in a cooler and would rather have a cardboard box, simply add the “Cardboard Box” product to your order. This will alert our pack team to use cardboard. Again, All orders will Default to Coolers, so you will have to add the cardboard box to your order weekly or set it as a Recurring item. We’ll leave how you want your order delivered to you!

Next up, a financial opportunity for you. As I look at various grassroots community support models for small businesses, I realized that we have already offered a similar strategy in the past, the Prepayment Incentive. The idea is really simple. For any amount of money over $500 that you prepay onto your Skarsgard Farms account, we will add a 10% bonus to your prepayment. So prepay $500, get an extra $50 added to your account. Easy. Check the web site for more details.

We will run this throughout the fall as a win-win for you and for us. In the past, I have seen folks use this 10% bonus that we add to try new items out and actually increase their order size which helps all of our producers. And looking at order sizes is a good transition into my next point that I need to bring up, which is a change in our delivery structure.

As you know, we have not changed the delivery structure of our home delivery model in a long time. Well, actually since January of 2015 to be precise. And with all of the changing tides in the food market right now, I have been dissecting our model to see where we are winning and where we are losing. As part of this self-audit, we came up with a very important number, $9.25. Now you are asking “What the heck is that?”

$9.25 is the average cost that it takes us to buy a truck, insurance, gas, hire a crew to prep/pack and deliver your order. So leaving out any fixed costs (rent etc.), it takes us $9.25 to stop the truck and bring an order to your door. And I might add that we are extremely efficient at our deliveries and so there is not a lot of fat in that $9.25 to cut.

So then I started looking at our delivery cost incurred compared to our order size and something jumped out that made me get a little queasy. Our delivery cost is 37% of our minimum free delivery order. And that is before there is even any food cost associated with the delivery. Way too much.

The conclusion that we easily reached looking at all of these numbers is that we currently lose money on orders under $30 and make a tiny bit of money on orders $30-36. And I have to tell you that we receive No subsidies, No grants, and No gifts. We are socially-conscious, environmentally-friendly, for-profit business. But…we cannot afford to run a philanthropy. Each of our deliveries has to help support the greater good.

So effective immediately we will be adding a $5 delivery (sustainability) fee to any orders under $36. We will keep minimum orders at $25 but we can no longer offer free delivery with our smaller orders. Let me say this though, I would rather feed you than charge you a delivery fee. Enjoy more local items that we have to offer and the delivery fee will be a moot point and then everyone is happy and fed!

Thanks for your understanding on this issue. And if you still need reassurance that we bring amazing value for your money, please check out Instacart’s delivery policy– $10 fee for orders less than $35 and a $6 fee for all orders over $35. Even with a small delivery fee, we still offer the best value.

Thank you for your support, Farmer Monte

I’m Hungry, Take Me To the Web Site

Amigos, Foodies, New Mexicans, lend me your eyeballs. I need your undivided attention as we jump into the deep-end and look at a very important issue facing our local food system now. So grab your orange floaties and let’s do this.

Competition. I have to tell you that I love competition. I love playing sports, watching hot dog eating contests, and have been known to bark when my little Scottie Monopoly piece is about to win the game. Competition gets my blood flowing.

So that is my preface to this week’s journal and to let you know the competition in the food world right now is intense. Some seasoned grocery folks say it is the most challenging the industry has been in 40-50 years. Access to food has not been this easy since the cavemen found a suicidal Woolly mammoth. I don’t think they had psychiatric vets back then.

My point is that we (as consumers) are living through an extraordinary time of food right now. We are surrounded by food choices and low prices. Our grandparents were used to paying 20% of their income on food. Now, folks still find room to complain when, as a society, we pay less than 7% of our income on food. The lowest percentage seen in history.

So how do food prices and competition play into a pressing issue for our local food system?

Well right now throughout our entire state, CSAs, Co-Ops, Farmers’ Markets, and Mom n Pop food providers are in a battle to find space in your kitchen as the large box stores rage their price wars with one another. You would be very hard-pressed to find a Local food provider/supplier who is doing better now than they were 3 years ago. SKRS Farms is no exception. The competition is that intense and widespread.

When Amazon bought Whole Foods, my initial reaction was that this is a huge opportunity for the local food suppliers to step up and fill a void for our community. But then it hit me… We already have an amazing local food network. Local dairy partners, all the local pork and beef that we need. Thousands of pounds of local produce weekly. Honey, cheese, baked goods, roasted coffee, kombucha, teas, fermented foods, fresh pastas, and tortillas. I mean the list of what we have to enjoy from this great Land of Entrapment is huge.

So I have realized that it is not a matter of the local producers stepping up to serve the community, but will the community step up and support our local producers?

Our local food system is in a Sink or Swim situation right now. I am not going to sugarcoat it for you. We saw the very same erosion of support happen in Arizona. First, sales at Farmers’ Markets cooled off. Then a CSA closed. Then the landslide hit. We saw 8 CSAs and home delivery models close down in the span of 16 months. Box stores winning the fight. Right now, NM is showing the same cracks in the ship.

Fortunately, New Mexico is not as far down the rabbit hole as Arizona was at the time. But without community support, we are going to see a very different local food landscape 2 years from now. But honestly, it comes down to you.

I have written this so many times and I will write it again; the businesses that call our communities home are a direct reflection of the values of the people. Realize that. Businesses are not around by accident. They exist from the support of the community. Economic democracy where $$ are votes.

Whenever I would read that old bumper sticker “Think Globally, Act Locally” something never seemed right about it. For me, thinking globally is the easiest way to lull yourself into a state of paralysis. We can become so worried about events in Las Vegas or hurricanes along the coast, that we become desensitized to the impact that we can actually create in this world. The wording of that bumper sticker should have read, “Think Locally, Act Locally” We need to focus our energies on what we can create at home. What we can build?

So here we are in our most transparent attire. I need your support. All of our local suppliers need your support. Our community needs your support. You hold the key to shaping our local economic landscape. How is it going to look?

Farmer Monte