Cedar Valley
Sustainable Farm
Beth Osmund
Operating an Innovative
& Adaptable Small Scale
Farm
A Producer’s Story
 Responsible stewardship of resources
 We raise our and animals in ways that
nurture and respect nature’s systems.
 Responsible stewardship of resources
 We raise our and animals in ways that
nurture and respect nature’s systems.
We sell food at its true cost
 It isn’t deflated by government
subsidies or inflated by middlemen.
 Responsible stewardship of resources
 We raise our and animals in ways that nurture
and respect nature’s systems.
 We sell food at its true cost
 It isn’t deflated by government subsidies or
inflated by middlemen.
 We wish to make a living wage off our
products.
We work hard on the farm and should be able to
support our family with that work.
 Responsible stewardship
 We raise our and animals in ways that nurture and respect
nature’s systems.
 We sell food at its true cost
 It isn’t deflated by government subsidies or inflated by
middlemen.
 We wish to make a living wage off our products.
 We work hard on the farm and should be able to support
our family with that work.
Finally, sustainable means leaving this
land to our children in better condition than
when we began
Community Supported
Agriculture
 CSA is a model in which
consumers and farmers come
together in a mutually
beneficial relationship.
 Vegetable CSA
 50-60 shares
 6-8 drop-off locations
Lesson Learned:
We were spread too thin
We weren’t communicating
effectively
 Local ONLY
 Veggie CSA and Farmer’s Market
Innovations
CSA delivery at market
Lessons Learned
Local only was too small
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Weekly Ottawa & Chicago Markets
Worked with regular volunteers
Farm became sole source of income
Expanded product line
Veggies
Flowers
Chicken
Eggs
Holiday Turkeys
Beef
Pork
Innovations
 Weekly email newsletter
 Recipes at the market
 Packaging products w/ recipes
 Taking our “show” on the road for sales
Lessons Learned
 We had overextended again!
 Meat had a lot of potential
 Hired “Vegetable Manager”
 Received SARE grant to expand meat
production and marketing
 Purchased market cart, trailer, coolers and chest
freezers
 Developed marketing strategy
 Monthly meat CSA and weekly
Vegetable CSA
 70 vegetable shares and 78 quarterly
meat shares
 Farmer’s Market direct retail meat and
vegetable sales
Innovations
 Monthly Meat CSA
 Summer Bounty share
Lessons Learned
 Communicate expectations clearly with
employees
 We needed to narrow our focus even more
 Received a Frontera Foundation Grant to
help expand capacity.
 Installed walk in freezer/cooler
 Meat CSA – a monthly assortment of beef,
pork, chicken and eggs – delivered year
round.
Innovations
 Started GreenFarmers network
 Outsourced veggie operation
 Took on more education & leadership roles
 Illinois Organic
 Great Lakes CSA
 Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
 CRAFT
 Farm Events for members
Lessons Learned
 Carefully vet the people associated with our
farm
 Protect our brand
 Frontera Grant
 Cargo box chick brooders
 Meat CSA
 Added 5 delivery locations
 Approximately 200 members per month
 Bi-monthly Farmer’s Market
 3 employees (100 – 110 hours/wk)
Innovations
 Refined and expanded production & CSA
 Media savvy marking
 Farm website
 Negotiating up front pricing for livestock &
grain
Lessons Learned
 Protect our time
 Adding 2 monthly markets
 SARE grant to launch cooperative
restaurant sales venture
 Illinois Local Food, Farms and Jobs
council
Innovations
 Relationship marketing expanding into
restaurant accounts
 Using social media to build brand
Lessons Learned
TBD!
Themes
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Adaptability
Carefully select opportunities to pursue
Communication
Relationship building
True wealth is an
interconnected web of
mutually beneficial
relationships.