Viva Farms Update: Keeping It Cool
Fresh strawberries delivered to downtown Bellingham in Viva’s refrigerated truck.
by Elma Burnham, Viva Farms Communications Manager
In late May, Viva Farms staff and farmers alike gathered in the new Barn at Viva Farms for our quarterly farmer meeting. This was the first time in the new building for many; we closed the meeting with a tour of the new facility. As Rob pulled open the doors to the new cooler space, farmers exclaimed, “¡Hace tan frio!” “Wow, it’s so cold in here!”
This summer at Viva Farms, we are keeping it cool in new and exciting ways. The Barn at Viva Farms—a new multi-use farm facility where farmers can conduct all their post-harvest activities including handling, aggregation, processing, storing, and distribution—is now open! The new cooler triples the organization’s cold storage capacity. And it is cold! We are committed to delivering healthy and fresh organic produce, and cold storage and transport are essential to making that possible.
As summer heats up, farmers adjust. They might harvest early in the morning or into the evening, trying to avoid the heat of the day. They may do smaller batches of harvesting in order to get food into coolers faster. They’ll make all sorts of efforts to keep it cool for their health and wellbeing, and to maintain the quality of the produce. With increased capacity, we are thrilled to offer the farmers operating at Viva Farms the space to strategically grow their businesses in a sustainable way that also centers produce quality.
The Skagit Valley Food Co-op supported The Barn at Viva Farms and most recently, a new refrigerated delivery truck. These are both essential pieces of infrastructure that support the growth of local farm businesses and increase access to food in our community. As incubating farms at Viva grow into mature, viable businesses, their available product and sales channels often increase along with their acreage. Walking the aisles of the produce section at the Co-op, you’ll find produce from current incubators like The Crows Farm and Dear Table Farm as well as established alumni like Boldly Grown Farm and First Cut Farm.
Following the 8-month Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture course we offer, students are invited to apply to join the Farm Business Incubator and found their farm business at Viva Farms, with access to continued education, land, infrastructure, equipment, markets, capital, and community. For the first few years, most incubating farms are busy getting established. They are developing and mastering their systems. They are getting to know their customers and committing to sales channels. All along the way the farms are supported as Viva Farms walks alongside them at every stage of growth.
Soon, many farms are looking to grow and expand their acreage in order to start building towards independence and a viable, resilient family business. Following years of listening to farmers and developing this trajectory, we learned that the available infrastructure was a limiting factor for incubating farmers. We built The Barn at Viva Farms to match the scale of their businesses and strengthen the middle infrastructure of the Skagit Valley. We are so lucky to live in this place, where local food means so much to so many. Our hope and plan is that The Barn at Viva Farms serves farmers, and the local regional food system, for years to come.
Farmers have been busy using the 1,188-square-foot wash-pack all summer preparing the products that are delivered to homes like yours up and down the I-5 corridor. Come fall, farmers will use the 1,620 square feet of temperature-controlled dry storage space for curing crops like onions and squash. While The Barn will not be open to the public this summer, we welcome you to join us for a tour to learn more about the people behind your food and Viva Farms. Thank you Skagit Valley Food Co-op for the investment and making both The Barn and our new refrigerated truck available resources for our community today and in the years to come!
Viva Farms is a nonprofit farm business training program and incubator farm with locations in both Skagit and King County. Our mission is to empower aspiring and limited-resource farmers by providing bilingual (Spanish-English) training in holistic organic farming practices, as well as access to land, infrastructure, equipment, marketing, capital and community. We are growing farmers, community and food. Learn more at vivafarms.org or join us for a tour this summer on July 18th, August 26, or September 18th.