That year, a non-profit organization called Just Food approached Matt about growing for a CSA in Queens, in New York City. The watershed year for the farm was 2002. He also started a small CSA on Long Island. So Matt scaled up to 10 acres and added a few more farmers markets. Because the land was protected by a conservation easement that permanently preserves it for farmland, he was able to lease it for just a few hundred dollars per acre per year.
There was a lot of trial and error!” In 1997, he had the opportunity to lease his current farm on Long Island. “I started really small,” he said, “no business plan, no equipment, no knowledge. In 1994, giving in to the siren song of farming, he quit his cooking job and planted about 1 acre of vegetables, which he sold to restaurants, small stores and one farmers market. He loved vegetables and natural foods, and he found himself spending more and more time at the city’s farmers markets. Matt, a culinary school graduate in his early 20s, was working in restaurants in New York City. The farm supports two full-time farmers and provides seasonal jobs to more than 15 employees. His farm, Golden Earthworm Organic Farm in Jamesport, New York, has a CSA with 1,350 members, a farm stand, three farmers markets, and restaurant accounts. Thanks to a combination of hard work, great markets, and a bit of luck, he is now one of the success stories.
Like many direct-market vegetable farmers, Matthew Kurek had no farming experience when he started farming.
0 kommentar(er)
