Illinois Farmers Partner to Improve Convenience for Customers

The COVID-19 pandemic changed our lives in many ways, including a renewed focus on our food and where it comes from. In response, Illinois farmers created new ways of working together to continue delivering nutritious, delicious fresh food to their communities.

Dinner in a Box

Eric DeMange is the sixth generation of DeMange Family Farms in St. Clair County. He raises about 150 specialty crops – from asparagus to zucchini – which is sold at the family’s farm market and wholesale to grocery stores. The farm also sells at local farmers’ markets. The DeMange stand remained open throughout the pandemic, but several farmers’ markets shut down in spring 2020 and remained restricted for some time.

When the pandemic hit, DeMange teamed up with his childhood buddy, John Schoen, who now operates Highland-based Red Barn Farm Meats with his wife, Kiersten, and other family members. The DeManges and Schoens partnered up to sell meal boxes with DeMange fresh produce and Red Barn farm-raised meats. Kiersten created the themes and recruited other local vendors. For example, the “Burger Box” featured all the core ingredients needed to make delicious burgers and fries: beef patties and porkburgers; tomatoes, onions, lettuce and baby Yukon gold potatoes. Also included was a jar of pickles from Nitro Family Foods, owned by Nathan and Nicole Parchman, who also produce Nitro salsa, pizza sauce and teas. Molly Wheeler, owner of Queen Bees Cupcakes, provided dessert. Other themed boxes included Fajita Night, Breakfast Bundle and Taco Tuesday.

“These meal boxes were a convenience for customers,” DeMange says. “It gave people ideas for supper instead of them coming up with it on their own when all the restaurants were closed.”

He says DeMange Family Farms and other small ag-related businesses appreciated customer support.

“When people were scared to go to a big-box store, they felt safer coming out to the farm or getting produce from us at the farmers’ market,” he says. “It was a situation where people could build that relationship a little more with growers and producers and understand that not everything comes off the store shelf – it actually starts on a farm somewhere.”

See more: Innovation Grows on the Farm Year Round

Full-Fledged Food Hub

Roger and Tina Schuttek own Big Muddy Hogs, a hog and poultry farm. In 2016, they opened what Roger calls a “glorified foodstand” on their Williamson County property, offering their pork and eggs from their hens. In late 2019, they decided to turn the stand into a food hub.

“We reached out to farms in the area, buying beef, produce, baked goods and specialty items to add to our selection,” Roger says.

Then the pandemic hit. “A lot of the other little farms around us didn’t have anywhere to market because all the farmers’ markets shut down,” he says. “We gave them a place where they could sell.”

Big Muddy Food Hub in Hurst is now open seven days a week. The store carries pork raised by the Schutteks; eggs from their hens and at least six other producers; chicken from The Flock Farm near Anna; dairy products from Rolling Lawns Farm in Greenville; cheese and quark (a creamy fresh cheese) from Marcoot Jersey Creamery near Greenville; and beef from Higginson Farms in McLeansboro and Sunrise Valley Farm in Buncombe. They also carry applesauce, jams and jellies, plus fresh fruit in season from Rendleman Orchards in Alto Pass.

“When there were meat shortages in the grocery store last year, we got really, really busy – and we’re still not keeping up with demand,” Roger says. “We never ran out of milk, eggs or ground beef because our supply chains are local. If I was getting low on something, I could call the farmer directly and have them bring me stuff that day.”

Roger says the food hub is selling about four times the volume it was before the pandemic.

“I truly believe there should be a little shop like mine in every town and enough farmers around it to keep that shop full of food,” he shares. “It works to everybody’s advantage to get together and pool resources.”

Big Surge at Big Rock Organics

The Lehrer family of Big Rock Organics at Lamb of God Farm grows specialty produce through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, delivering fresh produce to the western Chicago suburbs and operating a seasonal farmstand on their Kane County property.

The 2020 season was unlike anything operations manager Natasha Lehrer Lewis had seen in Big Rock’s nearly 20 years in business.

“We had unprecedented interest in local food,” Lewis says. “We reached our capacity even before the season started, and I had a waiting list of people for 2021.”

Their crops include staples, such as greens, heirloom tomatoes and potatoes, along with specialties like rainbow carrots and golden beets. Lewis says they offer as many as 125 varieties in their weekly boxes during the course of the season. She and her husband, Jonathan, took over operations three years ago from her parents, founders Donna and Scott Lehrer. Since then, Lewis began producing videos identifying the eight to 12  kinds of vegetables in each weekly box and presenting cooking tips and recipes. Customer feedback indicates a change in consumer eating habits because of the pandemic.

“I think people have found the value of slowing down,” Lewis says. “When people commit to a season of vegetables, they aren’t just getting a product. They are getting an appreciation for how things actually come out of the ground, the ebb and the flow of nature. As a CSA farmer, we’ve been preaching this for a long time, but having others actually experience this as well is something really special to see.”

See more: Farmers Market Recipes