Derek Smith, general manager, has increased sales by 26% since he was hired in March.
The New South Co-op FROM BOXES TO FOOD TRUCKS Story and Photos by Deborah Horn
If the local food movement is to become sustainable and farmers are able to sell enough to feed and support their own families, it will take more than a handful of farmers markets scattered around the state. That’s how a group of certified naturally grown and organic Arkansas producers sees it, and through the New South Produce Cooperative, headquartered in North Little Rock, it’s achieving that goal while supplying Arkansans with a healthy food source. New South, a farmer-owned cooperative, is working to improve the lot of Arkansas’s farmers through its Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Originally known as Foodshed Farms, it got its start in 2014 through a Heifer International incubator program at St. Joseph’s Center in North Little Rock. By the following year, a handful of member farmers filled about 150 boxes with fresh products. This year, New South distributed 6,650 produce boxes to more than 550 customers — New South refers to them as shareholders — during their 16-week combined spring and summer season. Their farmer members are now 24 strong, with an additional 10 farms supplying the co-op with additional products ranging from fresh veggies, fruits and honey 30
ARKANSASFOODANDFARM.COM | FALL HARVEST 2018
to meat and milk. Peyton Olsen, New South community marketing manager, says, “It’s been five years of hard labor, but it seems like it’s all coming together, and I’m excited about our future.” GROWING INTO ITS OWN In addition to moving into a 5,300 square foot warehouse with 900 square feet of cooler space, Ozark Natural Foods, a cooperative grocer in Fayetteville, has made room for New South on their premises so they can operate as a distributor in Northwest Arkansas. They also supply the food store with product. But there’s more good news. “We just started working with the Walton Family Foundation Inc. [of Bentonville], looking for ways to strengthen and grow the local food system,” Olsen says. This relationship comes with $80,000 “to explore better warehouse options in the future, and they’re introducing us to area farmers and to businesses and institutions that want to buy local,” she adds. Brandon Gordon is an original New South board member and says the co-op is a “missing link” that brings farmers and producers together with customers