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A big thank you for all the fantastic conversations across the intersections of farms through to grocery & farm markets. Every month it is unknown what can become a Bite; a quick chat can lengthen into food system conundrums & successes. Since its beginning in 2017, I aimed to provide info in a format with lots of images & topics to engender sales of local & regional products in retail stores. That it continues with readers from across the country feels like it was indeed a good idea. I am grateful to all the readers who send an email or phone message my way to share a "bite" & who regularly read Small Bites for new & or interesting insights connecting local food to a global system. I am also so grateful when folks reach out with a quandary that I can dig into helping food reach regional markets. And, when you consistently & willingly take my calls to chat it up, it is my everything! Sadly, much could not make this issue (cross-docking, frozen distribution, farmer funds, farmer articles in 7 days to name a few).

So in a wild & unsettled food adjacent world, our greenhouses are popping, baby goats & lambs frolic about, fresh milk is flowing, cheesemakers are excited for the upcoming cheese flavors to be sold through Provisions & other distributors. Stores have made it through maple-mud & spring-cleaning season & are now bracing for uncertainty in retail. So let's read on for a bit of the good from all our work.

Joe Kamuda, longtime former owner of Kamuda’s Country Market in Pittsford, Vt., passed away surrounded by his loving family on March 16, 2025. Joe grew up above the family store in Pittsford, founded by his parents in 1939. Joe & the store have stood as dependable staples in the Pittsford community. Even after retirement, he continued to work & could usually be found among the aisles, ready to share a story with a smile, giving directions to the best creemee stand, bragging about his two sons or predicting an incoming storm. Joe's legacy lives on with son Brian running the store & fully engaged in & gives generously to the Pittsford community. Joe participated in early support for the Farm to Plate Grocers Project. We send condolences to the entire Kamuda family & to the community he was surrounded by.

Read the full 7 Days obituary here.

Positively Good News:

Eyes on the Price Drop!

A tiny bit of good news but it has great impact. It seems like prices only go up. Rarely do we see or hear about prices dropping, both from producers as well as in stores. It is seen first hand by drivers & sales reps.

At Pumpkin Village Foods, Julian handles all price changes - up, up & up, producer after producer. Of course he understands the need for this in the current state of the world.

BUT! Since taking over sales of Larson Farm organic yogurt distribution to City Market shelf prices for plain & maple quarts decreased by a dollar each. Plain quarts are $8.99 down from $9.99, maple $10.99 down from $11.99. Larson's has a lower price image while City Market AND Pumpkin Village carry strong margins. The former prices were at 62% markups on their end, now they are down to ~47%.

This is an example of the distribution variables often mentioned here in Small Bites (including this issue). For a producer / vendor to build sales price image is part of the equation. PVF is excited to represent Larson as a small bit of good news in these wild & crazy times.

"Nonetheless, it's a small bit of positivity. It shows what can happen when producers have an array of distribution options to choose from."-Julian @ PVF

Let’s face it. For any number of reasons, stores can become bland. Displays that never change can decrease overall store sales. Sometimes it takes more than ‘just’ simple changes but huge resets to invigorate sales. Ultimately it is about making the shopping experience better. That doesn’t mean it might not shake up shoppers’ patterns.

Middlebury Coop has undertaken a significant switch-a-roo based on sales analysis & a need to increase the square footage of their vibrant local-focused Produce Department. Re-stocking hot selling items was a drain on sales per labor dollar. By working together as a team, the store crafted a strategy to reset & retool their marketing & merchandising formula. By moving sale items to the aisles rather than the entrance of the store it will enhance Produce sales by providing more space.

Customers will now find more store signage for the deals offered in each department. The new sales campaign will help to offer lower-priced food to all shoppers. These updates are all part of a bigger effort to make great food more accessible & create an easier-to-shop experience to promote more local products.

Rutland Coop

Introduces New GM

Small community coops are a tough business to manage. They have all the challenges of a large operation. The role the General Manager holds is operational while representing the interests of the Board of Directors who rely on their community for directions.

The Rutland Coop has hired a new GM, Chris Ettori. He brings a wealth of transferable skills in leadership and governance. On top of that as a former BOD member he has served on Rutland City’s Board of Aldermen for 6+ years, the Downtown Partnership board for 3 years, the Rutland Redevelopment Authority off and on for 10 years, & as a founding committee & board member for Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum.

In its 30 years, the Coop is well poised to carry on despite significant threats to small store operations. Rutland’s support for a coop is firm as are plans for further community engagement to fulfill its mission to provide food & wellness to shoppers who walk to the store or travel from area towns. 

Berry Good News

Adams Berry Farm (ABF) in Charlotte, Vermont is known for their quality berries sold fresh via DSD to farmstands & stores. BUT! There is more to them than simply fresh berries.

Right now they have 10 ounce retail & five-pound wholesale pack sizes of frozen berries. The food service pack is perfect for limited select signature baked goods like scones or refreshing farm-connected smoothies at your store or farmstand café. AND planning ahead for hot weather, get in line to sell their summer essential farm-to-popsicle . They should be on the docket at every PYO operation within the distribution range of ABF.

Products can be shipped via Farm Connex, ACORN. For details on pack sizes, pricing & DSD shipping on range, contact Jess. As always in distribution availability & routes info may change.

Treats & Carbs Are Highly Sought After & Selling

It's no secret folks have made some shifts in shopping. Not only is more price comparing going on, but there is also an uptick in local & regional treats to appease & comfort. Think of stores engaged in "Solace Merchandising!" Right now, there are many people enjoying treats as a coping mechanism. There’s a saying in retail: “build your displays for anticipated sales”. That is what Healthy Living has done with their line of Krin’s Bakery

New England's many artisan crafted desserts are filling the void left when attending to the daily news. Who isn't leaning into a delectable Vermont Cheeseless for comfort? Or you are excited to know Sisters of Anarchy are going gang busters on their ice cream sandwiches.

Blue Moon Sorbet offers up its premium products as a refreshing change to the daily news. Garuka Bars are more plentiful than ever with their adventure bars expanding to beyond the original flavor. Mirabelle’s Chocolate Croissants are very much of the season, available through Lesser Distribution & ACORN Food Hub 

April= YAY!

From the browns of March mud to the slow but steady coloring of the landscape, April lifts spirits. Local greenhouses burst with cut flowers to be sold locally & through distributors including Meyers Produce. 

The first bitter greens offer tonics from the season of winter root crops.

Meanwhile in barn paddocks when the sun is shining, newborn lambs bounce around in the glory of life’s possibilities, which might be kleftiko. A Mediterranean specialty with at least a 500-year history. It is no longer necessary to create this one-pot meal to be cooked in a whole in the ground, simple parchment paper & in oven will do. Lamb is a traditional Springtime meat with any number of ways to relish its tender, light gamey flavor.

Maplemont Farm on the Connecticut River in Barnet is just one farm supplying our needs for pasture raised lamb, another available through the ACORN Food Hub is Squier Farm in Tinmouth. Both of these farms focus on animal health & soil wellbeing in their rearing practices.   

Coming to Vermont, My Hero

Austin Frerick

I just found out Austin Frerick is coming to speak at Middlebury College on Tuesday April 15th!

As any regular Small Bites reader knows I was the "original influencer" to get folks to read Barons! I have loved hearing how much this book illuminated your understanding of our consolidated, greed filled, politically embedded food system.

Join me next week in Middlebury

From the NEK Corner

Lowline Angus Cattle originated from a closed herd of "low" growth rate Black Angus Cattle in the mid 1900's in Australia. Now called American Aberdeen Angus in the states, this easily recognizable breed of smaller framed docile cattle have the potential to revolutionize global beef production.

Over the last few years, Four Town Lowline Farm has been converting corn fields to productive grass / pasture lands to feed their growing herd. This family operation emphasizes promoting agriculture they believe in- good for the consumer, the animals, & the environment. Sold to stores through Green Mountain Farm Direct. 

ACORN hosted Taste the Valley in March. Vendors selling through their food hub sampled & talked with current & potential store customers. It was fantastic to see everyone working the room in the name of local & regional sales. Products were represented from all major food categories. There were fabulous conversations, laughter along with wonderful flavors from up & down the Champlain Valley.

Choice Matters

Finding the right distributor for brands can be a challenge when they are expanding sales. In the parallel universe of small rural struggle too. Store buyers seeking new products to meet their shopper’s needs &lining up distributors to deliver at a fair rate can be a hurdle. The range of issues intersect, making it hard for products to reach potential shoppers.

For a brand to expand the right fit can take sales to the next level in so far as they are capitalized for growth. This includes knowing the “trade spend” expectations, cash flow impacts, & staffing requirements to meet expansion. It truly matters having the right fit with distributors representing your products & that their customers are of “good potential” for repeat sales. As Farm to Plate fan & brand growth consultant Alli Ball of Food Biz Wiz says- it is one thing to get in with a distributor, it’s another for stores to repeat buy your product.

A brand can use several distributors to meet rural routes, supply bulk pack sizes for institutional sales, or choices are made based cash flow & scale of operations (among many other reasons including how distributors sell your products!).

Over its 15 years, Garuka Bars has worked with several distributors & direct-to-consumers to incrementally grow its business. Reaching customers & having steady repeat sales Garuka is utilizing a wide range of distribution options including Hibbert & McGee, Performance Food Group’s Black River Produce, Food Connects, Marty’s Local, Killam Sales, & Pumpkin Village. Engaging sales through multiple distributors has been a deliberate evolution to meet their growth & expansion goals across the region. The ‘adventure bars’ are perfect for seasonal sales at farmstands & outdoor oriented shops.

When the Buyer decides to carry your product, they're placing an educated guess that you're going to bring higher sales to your category, capture better margin, or bring life back to a stagnant segment of the store. -Alli Ball

Ordering vs Buying :

When distributors expand, there are more truck routes, more store customers, & an increase in opportunities for brands to access new markets. In general, distribution sales teams rely on lots of data on key performance indicators (KPI), but there is still a role for “old school” selling based on relationships. When a rep really knows a store customer there is a targeted approach to helping the store meet its customers’ needs. That said, the expansion of AI & in-house generated sales reports can lead to a system based on “ordering” versus “relationship-based buying”.

Store buyers across categories have come to rely on data as there has been a reduction in boots on the ground relations. What results are that store buyers have become reliant on ordering more than buying. This is more than semantics. It is a systematic efficiency based on data throughout the supply chain. However, when distributor sales reps know the store, there is a more targeted approach to aligning values with new products & or sales opportunities or a pulse on trends. Often across the supply chain, when distribution expands, data is the driver more than one-on-one relationships. That said, there can be deviations to that.

Smaller distributors & food hubs work to increase sales by engaging in a mixture of KPI data analysis with in-person relationships. In small operations truck drivers can act as an intermediary, sharing insights with the sales or procurement teams. At Upper Valley Produce there is currently an opening for an on-the-road sales rep.

You might recall in January of 2024 Associated Buyers of NH was purchased by Rainforest out of New Jersey. There is a natural transition period that occurs when one business is subsumed by another as the sales programs can differ. In the food world, that ripple effect eventually impacts what lands on store shelves. When reps can have a presence at stores, it is often a win-win. They can have a hand in assisting new store staff to the workings of distributor sales & vendor deals through broker programs, this helps support & build the “buying” capacity going beyond simply “ordering”. These are changing times across all sizes of distributors. For more info on this type of system knowledge, send us your questions or quandaries.

When you start working with a distributor you need to understand that you're inviting another entity, whom you have no history working with, to represent your brand in the manner that may not be in line with the way you want your brand represented. -Gregory Esslinger

Some Things Change,

Some Things Stay the Same

Vermont has had a thing about community. It goes back to the old Grange culture. Like our old general stores, towns across the state still have the buildings but often they are no longer utilized as community centers talking farm & food shop. Their reason for being was to support the community, share resources, & build alliances to sustain economic opportunities & growth. Across from the North Tunbridge General Store is the Grange, a sweet building that was once the center of the community.

Up & over hills & through valleys. mutual aide is alive & well even if not utilizing the old town grange.

Salvation Farms hosts the 2^nd Annual Pie Breakfast in Morrisville on April 12^th! This all you can eat event is reminiscent of the agricultural gatherings at granges. There will be music, a raffle, & of course conviviality from folksjoining together from 9-11 at the VFM in the heart of town. 

Organizations Need Support

Vermont Specialty Food Association under the leadership of Karin Cioffi is rallying aligned businesses to understand & support the role of our “food manufacturing” organization. With deep ties across the supply network, they are connecting to various intersecting allies. Many stores buying local can become a member of our trade organizations, now relying more than ever on membership fees. The Grocers Project has advocated joining VSFA & also the Vermont Vegetable & Berry Growers Association, Vermont Cheese Council, & NOFA.

Each organization provides key services to support our local food economy. We know things are getting tighter, but if you can, please join these organizations that directly support the training of producers / vendors. They are all under intense pressure to support constituencies- which includes so many Small Bites readers. If your business or organization can become members, it will be a mutually beneficial for you, them, & in essence, us all. 

Farmer as Retailer:

Important Farmstand Updates:

Act 181 includes changes to Act 143 governing Accessory On-Farm Businesses (AOFBs). Farming is exempt from Act 250. AOFB businesses are defined differently than “farming”. When it originally passed, Act 143 applied to your town’s zoning only, not Act 250.

Changes for AOFB's which will provide some exemptions from Act 250 & likely will increase revenue for Vermont farms. For what is allowed & to clarify the changes, Please explore this VAAFM page.

Maine Grains

Feeding New England

One of the great ‘grains’ of New England historically was buckwheat for its role as a ‘companion’ alley crop in field & orchard production. According to the archaeological record, it’s long history as a ‘grain’ started in China over 6000 years ago however it technically is not a grain & not related to wheat. Here in New England, there is a resurgence of ‘ancient grains’. Among the many is Buckwheat which, when roasted is called Kasha; it is a gluten free staple, is easy to prepare & its nutty, toasty flavor lends itself to hearty breakfasts & savory dinners.

USDA estimates that 20,000 to 25,000 acres were planted annually across Maine from 1866 to 1904. Acreage dropped to 18,000 in 1905 & continued to decline steadily after that, with only 2 to 3 acres grown here annually in the early 1950s when commercial nitrogen fertilizer, which increased cereal grain yields, came into common use.

By re-localizing grain production and milling Maine Grains support the health & livelihood of the farmers & the communities they serve. One of the unique aspects of their production systems is their stone milling process. The slow traditional milling preserves the integrity & nutritious nature of grain & buckwheat kernels, perfect for natural fermentation baking & cooking. They are creating jobs, improving land use, & providing healthy food for all while serving as a successful model for thriving local economies. Maine Grains offer several grain products including buckwheat as flour, beans, grains & pantry.

At the store level, selling a new line of products can be a challenge. To reduce the fear factor Maine Grains wants store & farmstand buyers to reduce the risk of bringing them on with incentives: 50% off your first order (up to $150)*, 1 year of free shipping with us*, 60-day payment terms for eligible retailers, Free returns on your first order. (Contact them for all the details).

To make it easy for stores, they sell wholesale through a dozen distributors from large to small including Rainforest, Performance Food Group, Myers Produce, & Farm Fresh Rhode Island. Each distributor will have selections from the full catalog of products. Distributors & product availability are subject to change.

Post your event or explore the Events page at Farm to Plate

Business Support Services

VSJF offers business management coaching, entrepreneurial support, & training to position Vermont entrepreneurs for growth & long-term success. Explore the possibilities!

Farm to Plate's events/news/jobs page is a go-to list to connect & learn. Loads of updates that can include agroforestry, women farmer summits, butchering seminars, staffing news, & so much more.

Apologies for any oversights & typos

Special Thanks: Jess @ Healthy Living & Adam's Farm Market, Dondi @ Provisions, Arliene @Upper Valley Produce, Shad @ Rainforest, John @ Blue Moon Sorbet, Colleen @ CAE

Julian @ Pumpkin Village, Brian @ PFG Black River Produce,

Created with gratitude for the support from the Canaday Family Charitable Trust 

Small Bites comes to you via incredibly valuable grants. We directly support the New England State Food System Planners Partnership effort to strengthen the regional food economy.

Contact: Annie Harlow

smallbites802@gmail.com

All info is subject to change. One small bite at a time.