Fair Trade Importer Says it's Ripe for Success

The first things newly minted MBA Bradley Russell learned about the banana business are that the product attracts customers by being the right color at the right time and that the fruit can never be allowed to sit for long. The trick also is to keep the company going in the right direction. After a period in which Oké USA did more slipping than moving forward, it linked up last year with fair trade veteran Equal Exchange to import fair trade bananas. When 2009 figures are tallied, the company expects to show that it broke even - a cause for celebration in a down business... Learn more

Model for Growth

When growers network to bring sustainably raised food to market, farmers become partners in the business of food. Article explores models for farmer networks including Red Tomato, Shephard's Grain, Organic Valley, and Tallgrass Beef Company.

Clare Leschin-Hoar, The National Culinary Review

Red Tomato: Keeping it Local

This Harvard Business School case study describes the operating model and history of Red Tomato, a non-profit organization dedicated to branding and logistical support for locally grown produce farmers in the northeast U.S. The case highlights the challenges involved in making locally grown produce available to large consumer markets.

Unusual Weather Brings Bumper Crop Of Apples In Connecticut

Apple grower John Lyman, vice president of Lyman Orchards, had the kind of year that keeps farmers awake at night. First there were the record spring rains, then an early-July hailstorm that blemished his fruit, and then more rains that prevented him from planting his corn maze and pumpkins until almost mid-July.

"2009 was one of those years when, at any one time, we literally didn't know if things were going to work out," Lyman said. "Our future seemed in jeopardy every time we walked the orchards." But then, beginning in August, a run of perfect curing weather for apples &mda... Learn more

Grocery Stores Taking Stock of Local Foods

Pyramids of green apples and red tomatoes elbow each other for space. Not far away is the deli, where wedges of cheese mingle with lunch meat and sliced bread. Shoppers meander through aisles of canned soup and boxed cereal, and navigate a maze of produce and dairy. The lights are bright but not overly so.

This is, of course, a supermarket, and the size and ambience of these chain grocery stores is the opposite of what you find at small neighborhood farmers’ markets, where Vermonters tend to shop for locally produced food. Vermont has the highest number of direct farmer-to-con... Learn more

Who Moved My Tomato? How food production is going local

The author of Who Moved My Cheese? used a parable about mice and men hunting cheese to illustrate his points about anticipating, monitoring and adapting to change.  How does this relate to ag?  Unnoticed by many, the location of food production is beginning a change, albeit a still-small change.  As the local food movement gains momentum and media coverage, it is also gaining economic power, and the farmers who produce food for local distributi... Learn more

Ecological Apples

More than six years ago, Alyson's Orchard was drawn to Red Tomato's certified-ecological Eco Apple program.  It's goal is to produce Eastern apples "born here, raised here" for a premium wholesale market, via strict integrated pest management protocols.  It's a good fit for keeping this 450 acres of land in agriculture. Today, Alyson's Orchard wholesales about 25% of its apples via Eco Apple.

John Vogel, American Agriculturalist.

Growing, selling locally: Direct-from-farm sales on the rise

With the start of New England's harvest just a few weeks away, localvores are eating the last of their winter roots in anticipation of the farmers market season. As consumers grow increasingly curious about the sources and safety of their food, public participation in community-supported agriculture and other modes of direct-from-the-farm selling has spiked in recent years. Eating local is the hottest trent in food. But only a tiny minority forgoes the middleman to purchase produce, meats, and dairy directly from the farmer. "Ninety-six percent of the population still buys food from stores,... Learn more

Local Into Retail: Reinventing the Farmer

Hartman Group interviews Michael Rozyne:

Do you find that retail interest in local products is high at this point, and do you feel that if a major retailer knocks on your door you'd have enough product to supply them? Or is it easier to work with smaller retailers?

I’ll start with retail interest in local. If you let the media answer that question, you would believe that there was an explosive growth in local interest around 2006. Yet my experience with it is that when I started Red Tomato in 1996-1997, I felt like there was already very stron... Learn more

Sales Tip Scales for Eco Apple Growers

Growers, scientists, and marketers have successfully boosted the market for IPM-grown apples through their collaborations in the Northeast. With IPM Partnership funds and leadership from a nonprofit called Red Tomato, the multistate “Eco Apple” working group saw sales grow nearly five-fold over a three-year period.

IPM Insights Winter 09

A Growing Demand: Delivery Service Founder Finds Increased Interest in Locally Grown Organic Produce

Jeff Barry, the founder of Charlestown-based produce delivery service Boston Organics, found that some of his customers were dismissing bananas, even those of the organic, fair trade variety.  Eschewing exotic fruits shipped from far away, some of his customers were developing a preference for locally grown food, and Barry, who sells a variety of produce boxes directly to consumers, decided to jump on the bandwagon.  Barry isn't the only player in the New England food chain to notice a growing demand for local food.

Jennifer Schwartz, The Boston Globe. Boston, MA.... Learn more

Equal Exchange: Uniting Local and Global Communities Through Coffee

For many people, a day simply cannot be started properly
without a cup of coffee or tea. But for locavores—people
who are committed to eating locally grown and produced food—
purchasing coffee and tea becomes somewhat of a dilemma.
How does one continue to support local farmers while consuming
beverages brewed from ingredients grown thousands of miles
away? 

Kate Strassel, Edible South Shore. Boston, MA.

Community Investment Partner: Red Tomato

Canton, Massachusetts-based non-profit Red Tomato stands out in a crowd.  Red Tomato's mission is connecting farmers and consumers through marketing, trade, and education.  Their passionate belief is that a family-farm, locally based, incorporating ecological practices and using a fair trade food system, is teh way to a better tomato.  Red Tomato was founded in 1996.

Laura Edwards-Orr, Red Tomato

Bringing Fair Trade to Local Growers

When Michael Rozyne founded Equal Exchange in 1986, he was at the forefront of creating the fair trade movement in coffee, tea and cocoa.  After spending nine years creating and building the international cooperative, Rozyne decided to explore fair trade with the locally grown fruits and vegetables he enjoyed most.

Rebekah Fraser, Fruit, Nut & Vegetable Production Growing. St. Johnsbury, VT.

Eco Apples: Customers buy concept of ‘advanced IPM’

The phrase “Integrated Pest Mangement” doesn’t exactly flow off one’s tongue and produces a somewhat fuzzy effect on the brain as well. “Michael felt the name Eco Apple would have a bit more punch to it than IPM,” said Dan Cooley, a plan pathologist with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The Michael he refers to is Michael Rozyne, the director of Red Tomato, where the term Eco Apple™ was developed…

Dick Lehnert, F... Learn more

NE Growers Reach More Customers with Red Tomato

About 40 farms in New England, New York and Pennsylvania sell produce through Red Tomato - and none of them appear to ahve a bad word to say about it.  Some of them rely on Red Tomato to sell most of what they produce, and others sell some to Red Tomato but much goes elsewhere.

Dick Lehnert, Fruit Growers News. Sparta, MI.

Red Tomato Turns a Symbol into a Useful Reality

You have to think a little outside the box to understand Red Tomato.  First of all, Red Tomato is an organization that is only a little bit about red tomatoes.  Red Tomato is a name, a sumbol, really, meant to evoke the great idea of a well-colored, high quality, vine-ripened, juicy, flavorful, locally grown, garden-fresh fruit or vegetable, as opposed to...the other kind.

Dick Lehnert, Fruit Growers News. Sparta, MI.

Common Market Distributes Local Farmers' Produce

In their 27 years of farming, Andy and Dawn Buzby have taked all the usual routes to selling the produce from their 153-acre Salem County farm.

They have sold to distributors in Vineland, New Jersey, and in Philadelphia, directly to small grocers, and to consumers at farmers’ markets.

But the Busbys had no easy way to sell to a potentially huge market right in their backyard: institutions, such as hospitals and universities.

Harold Brubaker, Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, PA.

Demand Surges for Food Grown Closer to Home

Plato’s Harvest farm in Middleboro has sold out its weekly vegetable shares. The Brockton farmers’ market is doubling in size. Area grocery stores are offering local farmers higher prices than ever for local food.

The signs are everywhere: Local farming is once again a growing industry, as demand surges for food produced close to home.

Kyle Alspach, The Patriot Ledger. Quincy, MA

Growing Trend: Canton nonprofit helps boost family

Michael Rozyne has long been a champion of the small and medium sized family farm. Fresh out of Bowdin College in 1979, Rozyne began marketing for Estabrook Farm in Yarmouth, Maine. In 1985, he co-founded the for-profit coffee cooperative Equal Exchange, a West Bridgewater-based company that distributes beans purchased at fair-trade prices from Third World growers. Rozyne’s latest venture is Canton-based Red Tomato.

A.J. Bauer, Patriot Ledger. Quincy, MA.

Faces of Fair Trade tour visits New York City

As part of a month-long celebration of Fair Trade, a “Faces of Fair Trade: Uniting the Global and Local” tour was held Saturday, October 27, and Sunday October 28, in New York City.

The tour group included banana farmers from Ecuador and Costa Rica, a pecan farmer from Georgia and an apple grower from New England.

Brian Gaylord, Produce News. Oradell, NJ

Focusing on Core Business

Ashfield- Aaron, Brian, and Dana Clark grow apples on the same rolling hills as did their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. The fact that land Herbert Clark purchased in 1886 remains the Clark Brothers Orchard in 2007 is due to a combination of luck, skill, a helpful microclimate, and, in recent years the same kind of cooperative marketing agreement that seeks fair prices for small Latin American producers selling bananas.

Dietra Henderson, Boston Globe. Boston, MA.

The New Face of Fair Trade

Carlos Vargas gripped his coffee mug, the hot brew inside warming his hands. “When I see this cup of coffee,” Mr. Vargas said, “I see the effort of a lot of people.” Mr. Vargas, a Costa Rican banana farmer, spoke thoughtfully. “It's not anonymous,” he assured the small audience gathered around a coffee table at Joe Coffee Bar last Tuesday.

Alexandra Stafford, The Bulletin. Philadelphia, PA.

That's a Fair Banana

Leonardo Bravo, a 49-year-old Ecuadorian banana farmer, came to this college town to convey what an economics textbook never would; that buyers who pay more for their fruit than the free market demands are not only rational, but also wise.

Eric Gershon, Hartford Courant. Hartford, CT.

An Apple Scented Eden

While most of us dream our dreams as an exercise of the imagination, a rare few actually make their dreams come true. Alyson's Orchard in Walpole is such a dream, a very real imagining about a magical place.

New Hampshire Magazine. Manchester, NH.

Fair Trade Strategy for Northeast

For Northeast apple farmers it was a matter of survival. Facing a perfect storm of rising land, oil and labor prices, along with fierce competition from China and Chile, the apple farmers needed to find new revenue streams fast. They began a collaboration with Red Tomato.

SARE 20/20-20 Years of Advancing Sustainable Agriculture.