(Photo above: (clockwise) Leslie Weigand, Eric Phillips, Laura Moss & Elizabeth Weigand | courtesy of Agricultural Connection)
A simple start in Bend with just a few boxes of produce, a few a la carte items and a westside pickup location, Agricultural Connections grew from its neighborhood roots to connect Central Oregon’s communities with regional farmers and farms. The mission: to make the direct connect between producer and consumer with all local, all organic food—all year long. By Kara Tatone CBN feature writer
Andrew Adams first launched this grassroots project in the fall 2010 and saw the fruits of his labor meeting Bend’s need for local, organic food in the structure of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. But soon other pursuits took him to eastern Canada when he turned over management to Madras native Elizabeth Weigand. Within just eight months Weigand took the helm as manager and proprietor of Agricultural Connections.
In her four years running the company, big strides have been made in infrastructure and outreach alongside growing numbers of producers and consumers. A Maker’s District office space and warehouse is now called home; a custom website is now its online home (www.agriculturalconnections.com); contracted valley couriers, Cascade Couriers (www.cascadecouriers.com), makes city deliveries and Weigand now has the assistance of a part-time employee.
The company currently partners with more than 20 farms and serves 50-60 retail customers year-round. Wholesale customerscount approximately six to eight year-round that jumps to about 12-15 each summer. Weigand says restaurant numbers are growing on that list.
“The more we know people, the more we develop relationships, the more we connect,” says Weigand.
One such farm connection and partnership is with Windflower Farm (www.windflowerfarmbend.com) located in Alfalfa just 15 miles east of Bend on a fertile 20-acre swath of land where owner and manager Gigi Meyer divides the land with not only organic veggie, fruit and herb production but dairy goats, laying hens, heritage pigs and horses.
“Liz has been great for distribution,” Meyer says. “She works as a liaison…she is great to work with and great at finding a wonderful venue. Liz approached me and came out to the farm and I really enjoyed showing her around—she is very knowledgeable about farming.”
And her formal education speaks to this with a masters in landscape architecture from the University of Oregon and a thesis on farms and food, titled Farms, Food & Form on the Fringe, Weigand is both business savvy in the industry and educated in its agricultural roots.
“It’s where the rural edge connects with the urban edge,” she describes of her studies and now, practice.”
One layer of Ag Connections lies in its wholesale pursuits to supply regional restaurants with regional product. Weigand has been working with both Pronghorn Resort and Brasada Ranch to provide seasonal organic produce from the Windflower Farm on the wholesale level. But piquing the interest of restaurateurs to invest in organic goods is not always easy.
“It’s been a struggle to interest restaurants, commercial buyers, wholesale buyers,” says Meyer. “And, for instance, it can be hard to get people educated about the early season and what’s available. And we have the same problem in the fall when heirloom tomatoes are abundant and all of the chefs that are usually on board are closing up shop.”
Another substantial layer of Ag Connections is education and teaching retail and wholesale clientele the value of the end product. Weigand works with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council on various food projects, speaks at Central Oregon Community College in various classrooms and serves on the board of High Desert Food & Farm Alliance. But educational outreach may often and simply start at the warehouse or CSA pickup table—a basket of varied, colorful, organic,regional produce sourced from Oregon farms speaks for itself. Taste may be the second educational tool.
“We condition our relationships, and [community supported agricultural]is about social ethics, personal morals, personal health, quality of life and—enjoying the flavors,” says Weigand.
With a biodiverse farm as multifaceted as Meyer’s—Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) dairy goats, horses, laying hens, heritage pigs share the land with vegetable and fruit production—Windflower Farms may someday make the quintessential outdoor, agricultural classroom.
“We want to educate our client base that it is more labor-intensive on the one hand. It requires more, and the challenges of paying the extra attention and how that translates in extra costs to farmer,” Weigand says. “And on the other hand, you receive the freshest produce. Education is going to be the key for us and getting people to put the pieces together in terms of environmental health, sustainability…”
As the crow flies, Ag Connections’ web reaches partners within a 125-mile radius including Central Oregon farms in Terrebonne, Prineville and Bend, but also branches out to the Willamette Valley sourcing farms located in Eugene, Junction City, Lebanon, Brownsville, Leaburg and north to Mt. Hood’s Parkdale. This product outreach is a substantial decrease in travel mileage from the average food product in the supermarket that makes nearly a 1500-mile trip, from farm to table.
Among many of the company’s goals is caring for the environment and greatly lessoning the carbon footprint of fossil fuels in transporting food thousands of miles across the country, or across the globe. In Central Oregon, a mango in January is just this carbon footprint imprint; regionally grown winter squash in December is not.
“It’s behaviorally focused and requires behavior shifts in food consumption. An ethical shift and conscious shift in what you want to eat and how you want to shop,” says Weigand.
Both Ag Connections and Windflower Farms offer flexible CSA programs. Ag Connections offers online ordering for a la carte and weekly orders, produce box size options, and year-round pick up locations. Windflower offers a smaller scale CSA with On-Demand totes that may be ordered online.
“We believe that to live a healthier lifestyle it is valuable to know about our food: where it comes from, how it is produced, and how the farm and its animals are cared for during its production.” — Agricultural Connections
Agricultural Connections Partners & Resources
Juniper Jungles Farm www.juniperjunglefarm.com
Fields Farm www.fieldsfarm.org
Rainshadow Organics www.rainshadoworganics.com
High Desert Food & Farm Alliance www.hdffa.org
Central Oregon Locavore www.centraloregonlocavore.org
