Retail or Not?

So, a local grocery store chain called this morning to talk with us about supplying them pasture-raised eggs.  I was floored that anyone would be calling our meager little farm in the first place, but I also didn't think we could handle the numbers that they would want.  They got our information from FoodHub - a website that we are listed on.  It helps local stores/restaurants find local farmers to supply them.  Pretty cool, eh?  I'm not mentioning the store name, just because I don't know if the store would want to be on my blog, but suffice it to say, it's a big chain that specializes in "whole"some foods ;-).

I called the gal back and sure enough, we aren't quite large enough to supply the store on a weekly basis.  But she asked if we would be interested in growing our egg production.  I told her that I wasn't sure.  We are trying to create a diverse farm where we know all of its residents by name...if we grow too big, we are defeating our own purpose.  But then when I talked with J, he jumped on the idea.  He thinks it would be a great idea to grow enough to supply them.

So then the debate in my head turns to "What is the purpose of our farm?"  I guess it's time to write a mission statement.  Because if we add enough hens to supply the store, I will have to quit selling my eggs to local clients (I won't have enough eggs).  We will need to have about 50 hens...not too many.  We have the space.  They are easy enough to care for.  But I would want them to still range the same way...through the pig pens, in the fields, around the house.  What impact would doubling the hen population have on the farm as a whole?  I need to talk with Joe Salatin.  I know he discussed these challenges in The Omnivore's Dillema.

And if we have 50 hens, can we still maintain the level of quality and happiness that our hens have now?  The fact that our girls have space makes them happier, and thus healthier.  Crowded conditions (even when they free-range) isn't a good thing.  The thing is, even though the chickens have the whole 40 acres to roam, they really stick pretty close together.  So I need to make sure that they don't crowd themselves.

Then there is the debate over how selling to a retail chain affects our purpose.  We sell local produce to local people.  We aren't trying to feed the entire community, just a small part.  And if there are lots of small diverse farms doing the same thing, we create a culture of local production.  If we focus our production on one thing - eggs - and sell to a retailer that marks it up, then are we still promoting the small farm?  I want to encourage retail stores to buy local.  I think it's good that they are trying to source things locally.  But does it help or hurt our local farming community?  I don't want to become a "chicken farm."  We are a family farm.  We are diverse by design.

In the end, this may be putting the chicken before the egg.  We haven't had this gal come out to the farm.  We don't have our egg handler license.  We don't have farm insurance.  We haven't even talked money yet.  So while the philisophical debate lingers in my mind, we're still just a family farm.  And maybe, as my dad suggested, we will be known as a family farm that declined an offer from a retail chain due to a difference of purpose.