Caption: Ryan Jepsen and his wife started Grass Run Farms in 2006 to sell grass fed beef and hogs. With more demand than they could meet, they began buying from other farmers, and found themselves stepping into the role of local foods middlemen., Credit: Kathleen Masterson/Harvest Public Radio
Image by: Kathleen Masterson/Harvest Public Radio 
Ryan Jepsen and his wife started Grass Run Farms in 2006 to sell grass fed beef and hogs. With more demand than they could meet, they began buying from other farmers, and found themselves stepping into the role of local foods middlemen. 

Part Six: Local food ripe for a middleman

Series: Home Fields
From: Harvest Public Media Group
Length: 00:05:21

Embed_button
Local food is becoming more popular, but it remains what some might call a "boutique industry." It's frequently sold in small quantities to an individual buyer, sometimes out of the back of pick-up trucks or through a farmer calling restaurants to say he's got tomatoes. But as Kathleen Masterson reports for Harvest Public Media, this growing industry is ripe for a middleman Read the full description.
Playing
Part Six: Local food ripe for a middleman
From
Harvest Public Media Group

Img_1876_small Local food is becoming more popular, but it remains what some might call a "boutique industry." It's frequently sold in small quantities to an individual buyer, sometimes out of the back of pick-up trucks or through a farmer calling restaurants to say he's got tomatoes. But as Kathleen Masterson reports for Harvest Public Media, this growing industry is ripe for a middleman

Part Six: Local food ripe for a middleman | 00:05:21

Privacy

More from Harvest Public Media Group

Caption: Local produce on display at Clover's Natural Market in Columbia, Mo., one of two independently owned health food stores in Columbia that offer local food., Credit: Jessica Naudziunas/Harvest Public Media

Part Five: A cultural disconnect (00:05:39)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

I’m walking down 9th Street in downtown Columbia, Missouri. This is a thoroughfare for local eateries, shopping and business. It’s not uncommon to also see local farmers ...
Caption: "I will pay the higher price to get the local product,” says Kevin Shinn (left), who owns Bread & Cup, a restaurant in downtown Lincoln, Neb. He works with vendors at the farmers market to source local food., Credit: Clay Masters / Harvest Public Media

Part Four: Is it more expensive to buy local? (00:03:52)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

Would you pay more for local food? Or would you expect to pay less? In today's installment of our five part series on local food, Harvest Public Media’s Clay Masters reports ...
Caption: Mike Callicrate owns a feed yard in St. Francis, Kan. where the mobile meat processing unit currently resides. Owned by the Nebraska Environmental Action Coalition, the slaughter unit has been tested on Callicrate’s northwest Kansas property since last fa, Credit: Eric Durban / Harvest Public Media

Part Three: In rural areas, working with what you've got (00:04:45)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

Local food takes on a whole different meaning in the vast open spaces of rural Kansas. Harvest Public Media’s Eric Durban reports that supporting food production in the land ...
Caption: City Seeds Program Director Annie Mayrose sits cross-legged between curvy raised beds loaded with potato plants. The 2 ½ acre plot is a standout among burgeoning nationwide efforts to create local food systems that address social problems., Credit: Tim Lloyd / Harvest Public Media

Part Two: Social connections in the urban soil (00:04:50)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

As local food systems evolve, social service agencies are uncovering surprising community benefits in the trend ¬– particularly in some urban centers across the US. In parts ...
Caption: Wheatsfield Cooperative Grocery in Ames, Iowa, makes an effort to purchase food grown by local farmers in addition to their other products. The store chooses to support farmers whose land stewardship and farming practices align with their vision of sustai, Credit: Kathleen Masterson / Harvest Public Media

Part One: Assessing food miles, carbon footprints (00:04:05)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

Does buying that tomato from your local farmer vs. one that traveled 1,500 miles from Mexico make a big difference in terms of its environmental impact? Not necessarily.
Caption: The Neill family – Julie, Callaway, Carter and Eric – all pitch in to keep the Neill and Sons Dairy humming. , Credit: Frank Morris/Harvest Public Media

A plot in the middle (00:04:53)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

The number of very small farms and very large farms have increased dramatically in the last few years, U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show, at the expense of ...
Caption: hris Boeckmann grows turkeys for Cargill on his Loose Creek, Mo., farm. But he also raises grass-fed all-natural beef for his private label. , Credit: Peggy Lowe/Harvest Public Media

Who are you calling a corporate farmer? (00:05:24)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

Agriculture is a big business fueled by big businesses. And although farmers themselves still come in many sizes, the distinction between corporate ownership and family ...
Caption: William Powers family owns Dary Springs Farm near Lincoln, Neb. , Credit: Jessica Naudziunas/Harvest Public Media

The sustainable hand (00:04:37)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

It seems every farming operation today professes to be "sustainable." We may not know if that’s true until decades from now, but farmers' choices today well may provide a ...
Caption: Brent Ware, a member of the robotics team at Kansas State, stands next to a planting robot that won a national competition. , Credit: Jeremy Bernfeld/Harvest Public Media

Take me to your fields: Robots on the farm (00:05:30)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

With automation already popular on many farms, how far will technology go? Will the farmer of the future be a human farmer at all?
Piece image

Blending of cultures may be blueprint for growth (00:05:26)
From: Harvest Public Media Group

While some of the rural Midwest is hollowing out, regions like Sioux County, Iowa, are actually growing, thanks largely to immigrant populations moving in to take jobs that ...

Piece Description

Transcript

INTRO---Local food is becoming more popular, but it remains what some might call a "boutique industry." It's frequently sold in small quantities to an individual buyer, sometimes out of the back of pick-up trucks or through a farmer calling restaurants to say he's got tomatoes. But as Kathleen Masterson reports for Harvest Public Media, this growing industry is ripe for a middleman… (20)

SCENE-- driving on 4-wheeler to cow pasture

Rj beef cows (07)--(engine noise) There's some bred heifers leaving on Weds, that are red (fades under track)

Ryan Jepsen steers the 4-wheeler up the green hill sloping behind his family farmhouse, into the pasture where the beef herd is grazing. (Mooing…) Jepsen is sort of a self-made expert in one niche of local foods -- grass fed beef. Neither he nor his wife Kristine had any experience with farming when they started back 2006. They began with just 5 cows...
Read the full transcript

Sign up for PRX

Log in

Piece Statistics

Actions