Buoyed by a new location, permanent staff and a quarter-million dollar grant, the Michigan Farm Coop is poised to continue its growth. Co-Founders Nic Welty and Jim Bardenhagen say the collective of farms providing fresh produce to schools, restaurants and retail customers will soon add more partners and increase its delivery footprint.

It currently represents more than a dozen area farms, supplying numerous restaurants, schools, stores and individuals with farm-fresh food, primarily in Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties. Plans call for it to continue inroads in Benzie while also expanding into Kalkaska and Manistee Counties.

The coop was launched by Welty and Bardenhagen with other area farms back in 2015. The idea stemmed from conversations about how area farmers could use a such a model to service more customers more efficiently. “Back in 2014, Nic got a group together to talk about a coop to increase income for growers,” says Bardenhagen.

Welty was no stranger to the concept: He’d previously gotten area farms together under a different sales umbrella, but when Google shut down the platform they’d been using, it was back to the drawing board. “I’d been researching how to make it operate the way it should. I was leaning toward a coop. I knew I wanted that model,” Welty says.

He notes that a coop provides more customers for individual farmers than they would likely be able to gain on their own. Loading products from several different farms at a central location onto one delivery vehicle increases efficiency, decreases the cost for individual farms, and lessens the carbon impact. It also provides more diversity and less hassle for customers, which also means potentially increasing the customer base. “It’s better for the customer, more profitable for the farmers, and fewer trucks is better for the planet,” says Welty.

The coop originally focused exclusively on the wholesale market. Customers now include schools throughout Leelanau County, Traverse City Area Public Schools and Frankfort-Elberta Schools, restaurants such as Blu and Nittolo’s, and stores including Anderson’s IGA, Edson Farms, Oryana and Leland Mercantile.

Its growth will now be accelerated by a USDA grant of $250,000, which will help pay for rent at its new location at the Goodwill Food Rescue building on Aero-Park Drive in Traverse City. Moving there from its previous location at 9 Bean Rows west of Suttons Bay makes it easier to service customers to the south, east and west. It also helped free up space for the always-expanding operation at 9 Bean Rows.

Bardenhagen says the move also makes it more convenient for farmers outside Leelanau. “We have growers in Marion and Manton, and near Petoskey,” he notes. Among the many providers in addition to 9 Bean Rows and Bardenhagen Farms are Lakeview Hill Farm, Homestead Hill, Bakkers Acres, Birch Point Farm, Tanti Radici, Pristine Acres in Missaukee County, Providence Farm of Central Lake, and Danu Hof of Mancelona.

The grant will also assist in providing staffing positions, including Kat Palms as operations director, Claire Butler of Taste the Local Difference for marketing, and delivery personnel, all of which will help the coop expand its reach and its offerings. “I stepped in as the first fulltime employee,” says Palms, noting that her position combines five different roles, from overseeing operations to packing boxes for customers to delivery.

One innovative aspect of the operation is the fact it works with both wholesale accounts, including schools and restaurants, and in 2019 added a CSA (community-supported agriculture) program. “We work with so many farms, so we get so many things. There are unique options for the members,” says Palms. That includes eggs, bread, greens, and various in-season fruits and vegetables, as well as chicken, beef and pork.

The hybrid approach is serving it well. In addition to wholesale accounts, it serviced 150 retail customers this past summer. The coop currently has seven drop-off points scattered throughout the area for CSA customers. Palms hopes to increase both the number of wholesale accounts and individuals utilizing its CSA this year.

One consideration is making sure there is enough of the various products but not so much that the farmers are duplicating one another’s efforts. “This past year we needed more tomatoes. We’re good on eggs in the winter, but not the summer, so we’re looking to (add) more egg farms,” says Palms.

Palms says the move from Suttons Bay to Traverse City also makes it easier to try to expand its reach to Kalkaska and Manistee Counties. That will also help bring onboard both more customers and more providers. “The coop has a really good application process,” Palm says, which includes the farm’s growing practices (organic, sustainable, non-GMO) as well as the items it produces.

“We have three new farms in process,” says Palms. “That will help us expand.”