Local and organic middlemen

Sam Fromartz checks out niche distributors

By Caroline Cummins

October 21, 2008

Sam Fromartz, of the blog Chews Wise, recently published an article in Edible Portland about alternative forms of food distribution. He profiles Organically Grown Company, a distributor based in Eugene, Oregon, that uses its staff and fleet of trucks to bring organic and local food to markets. So what’s the big deal? OGC is trying to fill that niche in between small-scale (farmers’ markets, CSAs) and mega-scale (companies growing, harvesting, and selling produce around the country).

Companies like OGC are for farmers who want to go larger-scale than just the local Saturday market but who can’t hope to compete with the likes of a national corporation. And oh, yeah, Fromartz notes the other mid-size distributors doing the same thing around the country. As Fromartz states, “This work will need to be replicated many times over if fresh, local foods are going to reach customers beyond high-end restaurants and farmers’ markets, which represent two to three percent of food sales, and begin to show up on many more plates.”