picture,” he says, noting that when it comes to farming practices, all the connecting elements have to be understood.
Schartner says he is encouraged the way things are going in the state. The future in Rhode Island for farms is the retail market. “I can’t see it going back to wholesale. The trend in farms here is catering to homeowners,” he adds noting that even with his volume, he cannot compete with the out-of-state wholesalers—at least not now. With the high taxes and high land values here, it is “very easy for them to come in and provide produce cheaper, even with the shipping.”
Schartner agrees that the Rhody Fresh milk initiative has been a good thing for the state but he notes he tried to do that years ago when Schartner Farms had its own dairy routes.
Schartner believes farming has a bright future in the Rhode Island economy providing the farmers get support from state and local legislation to allow them to expand and flourish with a diversity of land uses—including some housing. One plan for his new Bald Hill Nursery acquisition is to construct a wedding barn there, a retail operation and some housing for some of his workers. He is also seeking a conservation easement on part of the land.
Farmers in Rhode Island have to be heard, he says. “Lots of farmers are private, they don’t want to deal with the public.”
But he feels that has to change and his efforts in public forums are an indication. “Hey,” he says referring to his family’s old roadside place in Saunderstown, “I grew up with an amusement park and a restaurant.”
Manic Contrast
As big and complex as Schartner Farms is, there are many other farming operations in the state that could serve as contrasts.
Manic Organic Farm in Tiverton is one such place.
Manic Organic is basically a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) operation with a sideline wholesale business that caters to a few select restaurants There are a growing number of CSAs around the state and while the crops may vary from one to another they all operate on a similar basis—people join them for a fee and for a year they are entitled to a continual supply of fresh vegetables, herbs and sometimes fruit which they pick up on a regular basis.
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CSAs are so popular, many have waiting lists. Another attraction is that for the most part CSAs do not use pesticides, a fact that is attractive to an increasingly health-conscious populace.
The brains and labor behind Manic Organic is Nicole Vitello and her farm business is aptly named. Vitello is a dynamic, vibrant—well, okay, manic—young woman who hails originally from East Greenwich, traveled widely gaining experience growing vegetables organically and then ended up on a field off Route 138 in Portsmouth in 1999.
Using a field owned by someone else, she and a partner started raising organic greens, tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, onions, herbs, garlic and beets. Some of the produce was sold to white-tablecloth restaurants in the Newport area who liked to mention organic produce on their menus, some in farmers’ markets and some through a tiny farm stand.
In the next few years the operation expanded but last year Vitello made the decision to move to a bigger field. “I was in Portsmouth and not getting any bigger,” she says. Actually the move to Tiverton had been contemplated for three years—she paid rent on a fallow field off Route 77 in Tiverton for three years so that if and when she decided to use it, it would qualify for organic certification.
This year she made the move. She has rented two greenhouses behind an established farm stand. The nearby field is about 10 acres, she plans to erect a deer fence all around and anticipates woodchuck problems as well—critters she did not worry about in Portsmouth.
For Vitello and her small number of workers it’s hard work and long days. She no longer plans to staff a farm stand (although some produce may be supplied to someone else’s) but wants to concentrate on her CSA and farmers’ markets.
Her expansion is ambitious, she admits “but I think I’m in the right place at the right time” she says taking note of the growing interest in local grown food.
“I’m still making little but the little is getting bigger,” she quips.
While hard work does not seem to faze her, neither does the marketing end. A dynamic, animated speaker, who is booked for lots of presentations, she frequently visits schools and loves to work demonstrations with chefs.
“The marketing comes easy,” she adds exemplifying the positive attitude of some of today’s younger farmers.
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