Pete’s Greens is thriving

One of Vermont’s biggest local vegetable producers is Pete’s Greens in Craftsbury Village. The farm is now in its 11th year and is owned by Pete Johnson. The company has six full-time employees, pays $9.50 to $20 an hour in wages and this year will provide medical benefits. Another eight people work part time during the eight-month growing season.

“We are growing about 25 percent annually for 11 years running,” reports Johnson. He says this figure is “on the low end of the growth rate of the businesses of this type in this area.”

The business grew with little borrowed money. Johnson, who is 37, says the farm is self-funding. “We’ve done things by getting reserves and doing a project.” He saves before spending, he said.

Johnson purchased his farm in 2004 and paid for it with savings from profits made on leased land. “I like the freedom of not owing a lot of money,” he explained.

Johnson is a Middlebury College graduate who says he always gardened and “always loved growing things.”

Pete’s Greens is a “certified organic” farm. The company grows 30 acres of organic vegetables and salad greens and also grows 10 acres of storage crops including potatoes, carrots, beets and onions. This farm does not shut down for the winter and sells produce of some sort every week of the year.

The farm includes 1.5 acres of what Johnson calls “innovative green houses” to extend the growing season.

Pete’s Greens sells to 80 stores and 60 restaurants all over Vermont. It also operates a CSA called “Good Eats” which currently has 250 members. The CSA has begun a program where it drops CSA boxes to members at work. This service is included in the price of joining.

It also sells at the Montpelier Farmers Market and at farm stands.

While Johnson would not divulge his gross income, he said the typical vegetable farm in New England grosses $20,000 to $30,000 per acre and his operation was “in that ball park.”

Johnson’s competition comes from imports “that are often cheaper than ours.” California produce remains the biggest competitor. Johnson said the lower price of California produce is the result of an economy of scale, cheap labor and subsidized water. Also, California farmers harvest with machines much bigger than those used in Vermont. However, last summer when the cost of fuel was so high, said Johnson, “we sold cheaper than California.”

While Vermont competition exists, Johnson said he is excited. “We think this is healthy for farms and consumers.”

Johnson said more people are entering local farming because there is a healthy market and while there aren’t a lot of people in the state, “a high proportion like to eat local food.”

Another factor is that land costs remain “relatively affordable and there is a culture for a lot of local production that attracts people interested in it.” Johnson sees those who want to farm moving here from all over the country. “They are young folks with a dream of their own.” Many first work for others to get experience and funding before opening their own farm.

Johnson said he and other farms hire workers like these because “we’re all getting the sense that we are perceived as stable, fast growing good places to work and places of opportunity.”

Pete’s Greens goal is “to continue to grow more food but sell it closer to home as the years pass.” Johnson believes the continued rise in the price of oil will make locally grown foods even more attractive to Vermonters.

Johnson said his location, within 10 miles of Hardwick, where there is a growing community of food producers, is helping his company grow. The four local food producers Jasper Hill Cheese, Pete’s Greens, High Mowing seeds and Vermont Soy now employ 80 people. But this could greatly expand as the allure of local food continues.

“It’s entirely reasonable that in three to five years that number could be 250- 300 people, these guys are growing fast,” predicts Johnson.

He is very optimistic about the future of this sector of the agricultural landscape and sees other start-ups in food production entering the local market with a potential for as many as 500 jobs in the local industry by 2016.

“It’s a hot bed of local food production,” he said. “With a critical mass, opportunities start coming to you.”

The state’s role in local food production gets a mixed rating from Johnson. He praised the Department of Agriculture for “nice marketing,” and building a mobile quick-freeze unit for freezing vegetables and meat. The unit travels around the state. However, he was unhappy with policy.

“They could do a lot more from a regulatory standpoint, and could do on farm processing of meat,” he said.

Johnson believes raw milk is safe and should be sold beyond the farm. “We don’t see the risk as high, it’s a personal rights issue, a natural food that people should have access to.”

He believes the DOA is becoming more responsive to the new wave of agriculture in the state, but still focused on commodity dairy.