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weathered red barn and old tractors moving slowly through
Full Circle Farm seem typical, but on closer inspection you
might notice that many of the folks cleaning produce and loading
boxes or driving tractors loaded with flats of lettuce seedlings
look more like college students or high-tech entrepreneurs
than seasoned farmers. On this land the ideals of the organic
movement have been grafted on to the sophistication and market
savvy of the 21st century, and the results have been fruitful.
Full Circle Farm has about 120 acres in production this year,
most of it along the Snoqualmie River, 30 miles east of Seattle.
This large scale, along with cooperative links with other
West Coast organic farmers, has allowed them to offer greater
flexibility than other subscription farms, bringing the idea
of community supported agriculture (CSA) to new audiences
by providing unparalleled selection, convenience and service.
Where most CSAs offer their subscribers with box of whatever
is ripe every week from spring through fall, Full Circle Farm
collaborates with other farmers to provide a wide variety
of organic fruits and vegetables every week of the year. Customers
can make online substitutions and opt out of some weeks to
accommodate their schedules. Instead of one-size-fits-all
quantity and pick-up options, Seattle-area clients can choose
from three box sizes and 25 pick up locations.
“We are really making it as consumer-friendly and convenient
as possible and the feedback we’ve been getting is just
amazing,” says owner Andrew Stout. “People are
so excited about being part of this, about the opportunity
to work with the farm, while also having it work for their
lifestyle. It’s 2004 and people have busy lives and
they don’t want to be tied to a traditional CSA.”
CSA membership has recently doubled to 500 subscribers, and
Andrew expects that number to double again as they add eggs,
honey, cheese, bread, and shade-grown coffee to their list
of offerings. They also sell to over 50 restaurants, 15 grocery
stores, 12 farmers’ markets, and four wholesalers. All
of this adds up to expected sales of over $1.1 million this
year.
Falling into place
The seed of Full Circle Farm sprouted just over a decade
ago in the Midwest. Andrew Stout and Wendy Munroe had completed
an internship on an organic farm in Minnesota, and they were
looking to start their own farm in the Northwest. They raised
capital for the new venture by unconventional means, making
and selling over 1000 egg rolls at Grateful Dead shows. Then,
along with Andrew’s brother and a friend, they leased
five acres in North Bend. “It had just three acres of
tillable ground on a beautiful mountain side, but very rocky,
rough conditions,” Andrew remembers. “We started
with a rototiller and an idea, and only novice farming skills.”
“We started with
a rototiller and an idea, and only novice farming skills.”
--Andrew Stout
(pictured with partner
and wife, Wendy Munroe)
Still, by the end of their first summer, they had put together
20 sample boxes with a price list, farm description and a
business card, which they drove around on a Friday to give
to restaurants and grocery stores in the Seattle area. “We
called people back on Monday, and we started with $1600 in
sales that next week and it’s climbed ever since.”
Every year they were able to put a bit more acreage into production
in different locations. “We managed to survive that
time because we had really good quality produce and we were
fortunate in stepping in at the right time.”
By 2000, they were farming four different sites and moving
equipment efficiently from place to place was becoming logistically
challenging. When the roof blew off the donated trailer they
were using as an office in North Bend, they decided to consolidate
elsewhere. Through a service offered by King and Snohomish
Counties, called FarmLink, that connects aspiring farmers
with land and services, they were able to find this 80-acre
dairy in nearby Carnation.
Quite a bit of work was required before they could move the
whole operation there: “Two hundred yards of concrete
later; completely power-washing 80 years of debris out of
barns; getting rid of all of the manure, stables and stanchions;
putting up the greenhouses; and basically building infrastructure
(kitchen, break rooms, office) that this place required to
be operational," Andrew summarizes. "We did all
of that while farming 40 acres. That fortunately was the year
I was getting married [to business partner Wendy] and we wanted
to get married on the farm. There’s nothing like a wedding
to make a farm look good!”
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“We
have a good marketing plan and a very diverse
cropping mix . . . If one crop fails we’ve
got ten more to take its place . . . If one account
is not buying much that week, we’ve got
15 other outlets to sell to. It was hard to build
that up, but now that it’s built it’s
fairly able to run itself and can take the stress
off of us as the business owners and principal
farmers.” |
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Now Andrew and Wendy are reaping the benefits of their hard
work. “We have a good marketing plan and a very diverse
cropping mix. We are not really at the mercy of anything.
If one crop fails we’ve got ten more to take its place.”
Andrew smiles and demonstrates his unflappable sales skill:
“If you don’t want my apples, how about my kale,
my potatoes, my squash? You find they can’t say no to
everything. If one account is not buying much that week, we’ve
got 15 other outlets to sell to. It was hard to build that
up, but now that it’s built it’s fairly able to
run itself and can take the stress off of us as the business
owners and principal farmers.”
Andrew still doesn’t consider himself an expert farmer.
“I am not a great grower. I am good, but it takes years
to be great. Marketing is my strong suit and providing service.”
Those skills are also helping other small farmers reach consumers
through partnership with Full Circle Farm’s CSA program.
Saying 'yes'
Full Circle Farm has also reached out to work with regulatory
agencies to address environmental concerns, which are focused
on the Snoqualmie River running along one side of the farm,
and Griffin Creek flowing through it. They were the first
farm in King County to complete a horticultural plan that
addresses potential erosion, waste management and stream setbacks.
“We passed with flying colors, and it’s exciting
to do. We’re trying to be the exemplary farm around
here that says, ‘Look, you can work with the government,
you can do all of these things legally and it’s not
a hardship, it is not something that’s crippling. They
have a lot of resources and they tell us a lot about how we’re
doing things.’”
When the farm’s irrigation ditches needed cleaning,
Full Circle Farm braved the 19-month permit process that led
to the ditch being sloped, graded, meandered, planted with
willows, and augmented with cedar stumps. “It was not
easy. But it worked, and we were able to show the county that
some parts of the process probably weren’t necessary.”
Partnership building clearly comes naturally to Andrew. “We’re
just out there saying yes to whatever we can. It’s exciting!”
Other projects underway include: development of a compost
facility that will help several local dairy farmers manage
their waste; Washington State University research into better
management of the flea beetle; test-growing Chinese healing
herbs which currently have to be imported from abroad; production
of jams and salsa; and promoting farm-to-cafeteria programs
and institutional purchasing of local foods. “We are
always trumpeting that local is better: local flavor, local
fresh, local support.”
“We’re first
generation farmers, which is unique, but also becoming more
common . . . Now we’ve got new people coming in and
the barriers to entry are stiff, but there is a strong desire
to do well by both yourself and the community.”
Finally, Andrew and Wendy have themselves come full circle
by offering seasonal internships to aspiring young farmers.
Of last year’s five interns, four have started their
own farms. “We’re first generation farmers, which
is unique, but also becoming more common as a lot of folks
from the old days have gone out of it because the food system
is broken and they weren’t able to survive. Now we’ve
got new people coming in and the barriers to entry are stiff,
but there is a strong desire to do well by both yourself and
the community.”
Andrew is bullish on the future of organic farming, and his
optimism and enthusiasm are contagious. “We grow food
because I believe that’s what I am supposed to do –
grow good healthy organic produce for people.” 
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