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Farms-to-jails idea yields market for locally grown crops

By Jane Hodges
Times Snohomish County bureau

	JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Stanwood farmer Tristan Klesick came up with the idea of local farmers selling produce to institutions such as jails. A pilot program with a food-service contractor for jails in four counties will begin shortly. Klesick is pictured with sons Aaron, 9, center, and Micah, 12.
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As Tristan Klesick helped run a farmers market near the Snohomish County Jail last year, he began to wonder whether an individual farmer like himself could sell produce to the jail.

After months of negotiation, Klesick and another Stanwood farmer will participate in a pilot program to do just that. In June, they'll work with Aramark, the county jail's food-services contractor, and Sound Produce in Seattle, the distributor that delivers produce to Aramark, to provide nearly 2,700 pounds of locally grown cabbage to four Western Washington jails each week.

The farms-to-jails deal is the latest example of entrepreneurship among regional farmers, many of whom are working to create alternative sources of revenue. Supermarket consolidation has eroded the amount of locally grown produce stores buy, and the number of farms and amount of farm acreage in Washington state have steadily declined.

To counter this market trend, farmers have shifted their emphasis in recent years to selling directly to consumers at farm stands and farmers markets, and through home-delivery programs. Some farmers also rely on revenue from "agritourism" — seasonal activities such as corn mazes and hayrides.

Klesick pursued the deal with Sound Produce and Aramark because he wants to carve out new ways farmers can sell products in bulk — if not to grocery stores, then to institutions. Once the program is established, he says he'll go back to selling directly to consumers because that's what he prefers.

"Farmers markets and consumer-direct don't do near the volume wholesale does," Klesick said. "We need to develop both kinds of markets."

Klesick isn't the only regional advocate trying to improve farmers' economic destiny. Politicians are getting involved to preserve farmland and the business of farming.

Dean Boyer, spokesman for the Washington State Farm Bureau, said the Legislature has become more responsive to farmers' needs this year.

The Farm Flex Bill, which unanimously passed the House, would allow more commercial activities on farmland, as long as they don't disrupt the primary business of farming. The Growth Management Act made it difficult for farmers to run complementary businesses — such as restaurants, farm stands, or small processing plants. The bill would enable them to run produce stands, restaurants and other agriculture-related businesses.

"This will be a huge benefit to farmers who have had to ... supplement their income," Boyer said.

Boyer said the bill would help the state's declining number of farms, which dropped 10 percent — from 40,113 to 35,987 — between 1997 and 2002, the most recent period for which data are available.

Others are pushing programs to help farmers, too:

• Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon recently named longtime county employee John Roney to the new position of agricultural coordinator, a post designed to give farmers more representation in county government.

• In March, Reardon and King County Executive Ron Sims joined Puget Sound Fresh, which markets products from local farms, to encourage restaurants and major grocers to emphasize local growers in exchange for marketing support from Puget Sound Fresh.

• Next month, Puget Sound Fresh will publish a 28-page guide that will include lists of local stores and restaurants that buy locally.

• A planned "biogas" plant that could recycle at least five dairy farms' manure in Snohomish County could help farmers tend more cows per acre, reduce farm odors and bring in $1 million more in combined revenue within three years of operation, said Dale Reiner, president of the Snohomish County Farm Bureau.

But even with politicians and marketers stepping up to help, Puget Sound Fresh coordinator Wendy Dore says it's the farmers who have become the most entrepreneurial.

"This next generation of farmers is made up of business people," Dore said. "They're learning to grow what they can sell. They don't just say, 'I grow corn.' "

Full Circle Farm in Carnation grows, cleans, packs, sells and oversees delivery of its produce to restaurants and 200 customers in a produce-subscription program. The approach helps the farm compete against bigger outfits, subscription-program manager Matt Ewer said, because it doesn't have to negotiate with distributors and delivery drivers.

Full Circle uses produce from other farms in its subscription program. Two weeks ago, it began allowing members to choose what they receive each week instead of getting what Full Circle sends them.

"We're not afraid to support other farmers," Ewer said. "It's a whole new way to approach a farm."

Stephanie Luna, food-service director at the Snohomish County Jail, said Aramark and local farms have discussed working with local farmers before. But Klesick is the first in at least 15 years to approach the jail about making that idea a reality.

Under the pilot program, Aramark will buy produce from distributor Sound Produce with the understanding that Sound Produce will source it from the local farms. Luna said Aramark will buy all of its cabbage from Snohomish County and serve it to the 2,700 to 3,000 inmates at jails in Everett and in Whatcom, Skagit and Pierce counties.

If the program works with cabbage, Aramark may add celery, lettuce and onions, Luna said. Produce from local farms could cost 5 to 10 percent more, Luna says, but Aramark plans to absorb the extra cost.

Bob Foringer — an Aramark district manager who oversees business in Utah, Oregon and Washington — said the local farms program was a unique partnership for the $9 billion company, which does $400 million of its business in prisons and jails.

"Even if it costs a little more, it's good for everyone," he said.

Jane Hodges: 425-745-7813 or jhodges@seattletimes.com

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