Many Growers Enter Ranks of Retailers to Market Crops

Lousy peach prices 27 years ago forced Al Bussell and his son Bart to sell directly to consumers most of the fruits and vegetables they grow on their 200-acre farm off Stockdale Road, 15 miles west of Bakersfield.

“We had a crop and nowhere to go with it,” Bart Bussell recalled, “so we ran an ad in the local paper.”

Plenty of folks showed up, and the Bussell family quickly learned their lesson: They have diversified their crops and increased direct sales every year since then.

“Our main business--75% of what we do--is direct sale of what we grow,” Bart Bussell said. “It’s become our business. People like to come out and meet the farmer who grows what they buy. We don’t use pesticide on our sweet corn, or on our peaches and nectarines, and they like that.”

On weekends, he said, two-thirds of the visitors come from the Los Angeles area, many making a day of it while picking their own produce and picnicking on the ranch. The Bussells encourage repeat visits by offering a roster of special events ranging from next month’s Halloween scarecrow and costume competition to ice cream “freeze-offs” and cooking contests.

While the Bussells open their farms to their customers, other farmers regularly load up their fresh fruits and vegetables, even a few live animals, and truck them to the 110 state-certified farmers markets dotting the state--21 in Los Angeles County alone.

Participating farmers, as with the Bussells and others who operate rural roadside stands, have become increasingly interested in marketing their crops because of dissatisfaction with prices paid by wholesalers who move most of the nation’s food supply to market.

A prime example is Jack Parnell, a farmer who also directs the state Department of Food and Agriculture. “He went into direct marketing the year he got a bill instead of a check from his fresh-fruit packer,” said Lynn Horel, manager of the department’s direct-marketing program. Parnell now not only grows beef for his Headquarters House restaurant near Auburn in Placer County, but operates a seasonal pumpkin patch and “you cut” Christmas tree program at his ranch, where he also sells various tree fruits.

The farmer’s increased interest in retail sales is matched by consumers’ demand for freshness and purity in the food they buy. According to American Demographics magazine, U.S. consumers will buy up to $2 billion in fresh food directly from farmers this year.

Supermarkets, too, are responding to these concerns by emphasizing the local origin of their produce.