It might not seem like those who make a living off the land would have much use for broadband Internet access, but in Rutherford County technology is changing the way farmers do business. Foothills Connect is helping support sustainable agriculture and connecting small growers with consumers and restaurants.
What was once a post office in downtown Rutherdfordton is now the command center for Foothills Connect and its "virtual farmers market". Orders are placed online, local growers process and Foothills delivers. The program links farmers, chefs and individual buyers.
Rutherford resident Nell Bovender started coming about a year ago. "I think it's an important piece of just growing the local economy all the way around it helps those who are trying to be entrepreneurs and it's just healthier."
Healthier chickens is what farmer Richard Davis strives for using his specially designed flat pens. The mobile pens allow him to move his chickens to a different part of the farm every day. "It's clean for the birds they're not in their own manure they're moving to a fresh spot everyday so they're not in their own filth and also that they're eating fresh grass."
Davis believes more and more consumers want to eat chickens that aren't warehoused or given hormones and antibiotics. "We believe a lot of our consumers believe that's where are health problems are coming from is the food that we eat. On Davis' farm the hens are also cage free. And when they want to escape the elements or it's time for bed-- there's the "Henabago", a converted Winnebago style trailer. "They love it they absolutely love it it's nice and toasty in here they stay dry, they're on vacation everyday."
Davis jokes that he has 85 "employees", "The birds do all the work, they eat all the seed, they cultivate, they put down fertilizer. They're my employees but I don't have to worry about matching unemployment or social security." It was with Foothills encouragement that Davis opened up his Earthperks Organic Farm and Garden. "We thank Foothills Connect for encouraging and mentoring people. You can go out and do this, you can take your family's land and not have to lose it." And even for those families who have been in the business of farming for decades—Foothills Connect is helping them rethink how they can make a living off the land.
Henry Edwards and his wife Edith have lived on their 400-acre farm for more than 50 years. Henry's ancestors were given a land grant from the Kind of England in 1770--and the land has been passed on every since. Foothills Connect is helping the Edwards with a new irrigation system. Which is supplying much needed water to an uphill cornfield. Edwards says last years drought ruined the crop. "The tussle just died, no pollen in it, it got so hot and dry and the stalks stopped growing."
This new pumping system will supply about 1500 gallons of water a day to irrigate the cornfield without the need for any energy to power it. For the Edwards that's a big cost savings. Henry's son Duncan says he shut down his vegetable production for the past two summers because of the drought. "It's been simply too risky to go out and plant and too difficult and expensive to get water to these locations. This provides really the first alternative I've seen for some of the small scale but highly productive agriculture."
Something else Foothills Connect is helping the Edwards with is marketing. While they might have struggled with their corn crop, they are expert kudzu cultivators. First used to prevent soil erosion the fast growing vine is seen by some as an invasive species nuisance, but the Edwards have found multi-purposes for their Kudzu--they sell it to other farmers like Richard Davis for animal feed and Edith uses it for countless recipes, including her famous Kudzu Jelly .
"The chef at the Marriott in Charlotte is buying my Kudzu blossom jelly," says Edwards. "It's just has little different twang to it than ordinary jelly and then because it's Kudzu they can't believe it's good until they taste it."
It was Foothills that initially connected the Edwards with the Marriott. Finding those partnerships is what Foothills tries to foster--and it's all possible thanks to the Internet. "Now those farmers are putting their produce, their inventory, their business, online from their own homes," says Tim Will, Foothills Connect Director. "And then we go into Charlotte-major cities, Asheville, Greenville and we tell the chefs and we tell the residents that want to eat well to go on and pick the food and we'll deliver it for you." There are plenty of restaurants in the region that have taken notice and routinely use the service. Cafe to Go manager Meagan Ramalho says it's a way to support local growers. "We see it as a way to bring encouragement to our community which is very economically depressed."
Rutherford County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state--between 1995 and 2006 it lost hundred of jobs in the textile and furniture industries. Foothills is convinced that the county's future depends on investing in its people and its abundant fertile land. Tim Will believes the economic salvation of the region is in small businesses called farms. "This is how to do it not waiting for a factory. Take your own destiny and form it, don't wait for other the other guys, they may not come."
While growers typically get less than 16 percent of the wholesale price for their crops, farmers who use direct Internet sales through Foothills Connect keep 80 percent of the profit, the rest goes to Foothills for its services. The virtual farmers market concept is now in other regions across the state including Rockingham, Stokes, Caswell, Guilford and Forsyth counties.
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