Celebrating a Bounty of Believers

Celebrating a Bounty of Believers

Troy Bishopp

Earlville,NY---What started out as a “nice little local food project” according to many outside fence-sitters, has blossomed into a 100,000 dollar success. The Chenango-Madison Bounty Farmer’s Market at Your Door project celebrated this important milestone with founding members, farmers and supporters at a gala held at the Poolville Country Store in Madison County. “The most exciting part of this accomplishment is that 84,000 dollars of the 100,000 goes directly back to the local farmers and economy,” said Rebecca Hargrave from Chenango Co. CCE, who has been described as the glue of the project.

The idea and passion for this mobile farmer’s market came from Chenango Farmer, Bob Huot who pushed the idea of the “local, good yellow truck” instead of other home delivery services that featured out of state food products. Upon his urging, a team of loco-vores and organizations got together and garnered funding from the Chenango Co. Economic Development Committee, The NYS Farm Viability Institute, Central NY Community Foundation, The Konosioni Honors Society at Colgate University and The Madison Co. Agricultural Economic Development Council to start a straight line from the farm to the consumer.

The now 64 week old mission to support local farmers feeding their immediate neighbors in an environmentally responsible manner is starting to gain a foothold in the community. What started out as a 20 customer per week delivery service has burgeoned into over 80 happy families getting the bounty with rural flavor. Even event centers, catering businesses, stores and restaurants are taking notice of this local story and the movement back to connecting people with their food.

The Bounty acts as a liaison between customers and farmers. “We are basically the distributor and retailer with one big difference, the farmer or processor sets their own price, and we charge a small handling/delivery fee to get it out to homes,” says Steven Holzbaur, the Jack of all trades project manager.

Orders are placed by the customer online every week with over 700 products to tempt any discerning palate. The farmers are contacted by Sophie Belanger or Sue Parker, Chenango and Madison Co. Coordinators respectively, to set up pick up times and pack the orders. These ladies are the hands-on nucleus, keeping things moving in a sometime hectic schedule. Sophie said, “farmers are my peeps, they keep me inspired to come to work every day. The customers appreciate seeing things continue and are becoming more cognizant of the farmer’s challenges.” Sue agreed, “the bounty has become an extended voice for the farmer. I see customers wildly happy over the diverse products, in fact we got an order from California for some salad dressing, that’s cool.”

What does the average Bounty customer think? Amanda Larson from Oneida, N.Y. emphatically heralded the carrots she purchased as, “the best I’ve ever eaten.” “I am blown away from the taste as well as the freshness and so is my young daughter. And the quantity of food for 55 bucks is amazing, it’s a great value. I would love to see more legislators and leaders of communities get behind an important project like this one that links me back to the stewards of the land,” she added.

David Steinbach, produce farmer and owner of Iron Hoof Farm in Plymouth, N.Y. summed up the farmer’s perspective by saying, “I believe in the principle of creating a vibrant local economy. It’s time to reconnect consumers to their farmers if we are to have a regenerative future.”

As for the future of this now bigger, little project, the path to food security is as close as your back door.

For more information on the Chenango-Madison Bounty Project and its many products go to www.chenangobounty.com or www.madisonbounty.com Published in Lancaster Farming 4/11/09