Local food, local farms
How Southwest Colorado farms make it happen

From my perspective, Durango is one of the most vibrant, committed and encouraging local farm and food scenes in Colorado, with maybe only the Grand Valley (Grand Junction and Palisade) and Boulder County giving our area a run for its money. Certainly, there are pockets of growers and restaurants committed to them outside of these three areas, like Paonia/Hotchkiss, Steamboat Springs and maybe the extended Vail Valley, but in terms of the diversity of farms and restaurants that support them, it is hard to argue that the Bayfield/Durango/Mancos local food zone is not one of the best.

We have the gift of a community ethic that supports these farmers. Layer on organizations like Local First coordinating and promoting events such as the fall Harvest Dinner; Durango’s highly anticipated weekly farmers market and the community social scene that goes along with it; and Southwest Farm Fresh, with both an online farmers market and wholesale distribution network between producers and local restaurants across an even broader swath of Southwest Colorado. With all those elements combined, it is no wonder that the availability and sustainability of both a local food culture and vibrant farm scene is the norm around here, rather than the exception.

But with all this great local meat and produce heading into the hands of citizens across our area, as well as supplying restaurants across the region, I have wondered about the benefits to the farmers and ranchers, and how much our community’s focus on buying local really impacts and sustains them. Is there a significant economic value to the farmer, or is it just lip service that benefits only the people who choose to shop this way?

While pondering this question, I ran into Jack Leggett, farm director at Twin Buttes Farm, just west of Durango (full transparency here, I was picking up eggs and Leggett happened to be there…don’t @ me). I asked him about their business model and how selling into the local restaurant scene specifically benefits the farm. He explained that Twin Buttes does about 70-80% of its business as wholesale with local restaurants like Zia, the Ore House, El Moro, Bread, Eolus, Durango Natural Foods and the James Ranch Market.

“While selling at wholesale is a much lower margin financially, it is the consistency of the income stream across the entire growing season that is a huge benefit to us,” he said.

He starts meeting with restaurants in February while the snow is still piled high (yeah, right) to sketch out what they will plant and the rhythm of the growing season ahead. In some ways, Leggett and his team have a pretty good sense of how much support they are going to have for the coming year before they put the first start in the ground.

Once temperatures warm and the sprouts are coming (we just exited ramps season and are now leaning into spring lettuce and edible flower time!), Leggett explained that knowing they will be delivering 20 pounds of salad every week to a specific restaurant is a real benefit. “We can count on that reliability to be able to harvest a larger volume of produce, and the restaurants can plan their menu around what will be coming in,” he said. That kind of accuracy and predictability helps reduce food waste as well. Then, the farm can leverage retail sales, whether through the Farmers Market, their online store or the Twin Buttes Farm Stand, which will be open every Tuesday from 3-6:30 p.m. beginning June 14.

“If we didn’t have the wholesale support from the restaurant community, the retail side would be much riskier across the board,” Leggett told me. “Imagine having a week’s worth of produce, freshly harvested and ready to sell, and there is a big rainstorm that basically shuts down the Farmers Market.” That would take out an entire week of profit in a season that may realistically be only about 22 weeks long, not to mention create a scramble over what to do with all the produce that was just picked.

One aspect of this entire local food ecosystem I never considered was the challenge of a small farm, maybe a one- or two-person operation on a small plot of land, being able to scale up and provide enough produce to become a consistent source over the course of an entire season. Leggett walked me through an example of how a backyard operation must be completely on top of things to be able to reliably provide the volume a typical restaurant might need every week. It’s even harder to make the leap to invest in land, equipment and labor to get to the level where the farm can support increased demand.

“Unless you want to be the scallions guy or someone specializing in a very narrow market like microgreens, it’s tricky to ramp up and stay sustainable,” Leggett said. However, Twin Buttes, along with a number of other farms in the area, have found that sweet spot of being relevant and reliable for restaurants while maintaining a retail presence and viability over time.

This whole conversation led me back to the realization that like so many other examples around us every day, it is the circular nature of the food ecosystem and flow of cash through the community that makes it all work. The relationships between consumers, restaurants or markets, and the farmers themselves is how that cash flow stays home and benefits everyone across the community.

As the old adage says, “The fondest memories are made when gathered around the table,” and when that table is a tapestry of all our neighbors involved in creating that meal, those experiences can be even more significant and the memories that much more cherished. Now, let’s dig in.