Farmers, ranchers, farmers markets and related businesses are scrambling to meet an uptick in demand for locally produced fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs and more as the coronavirus crisis continues. There’s even a sudden clamor for backyard chickens.
“The retail store is like the week of Christmas that will not end,” says Matt Hamilton, owner of Local Yocal Farm to Market and Local Yocal BBQ and Grill in McKinney. He’s talking about his popular butcher shop, which also carries a variety of locally produced goods, from milk to eggs.
Besides offering custom meat orders for pickup or delivery, Hamilton has ramped up to make and sell preset produce boxes in partnership with Chefs’ Produce Co. in Dallas, which has excess to sell ― not necessarily local, but restaurant quality.
“The produce boxes are selling by the hundreds,” Hamilton says. Waitstaff from his idled restaurant are helping assemble the boxes. Minimum order for delivery is $100. Pickup is at the store or at Local Yocal’s food-trailer location, 6401 Custer Road in McKinney, which is also selling barbecue. Go to the Local Yocal website for details: localyocalfarmtomarket.com.
Hamilton is just one of several local purveyors pivoting in response to consumers.
“Demand is through the roof for these products,” says Jeff Bednar, owner of Profound Foods, a Lucas farm-to-restaurant distribution network that has switched to home delivery. His stable of producers reads like a who’s who of North Texas faves, from tiny Jubilant Fields in Trenton (radishes and greenhouse tomatoes) to Cartermere Farms in Celina (organic chicken and eggs) and Jersey Girls Milk Co. in Winnsboro. Bednar also has plenty of hydroponic greens from his own Profound Microfarms.
To get home delivery, you create an order online, with a midnight Wednesday deadline for Friday delivery. Minimum order is $35. You’ll also pay online, then Profound Foods will deliver to your cooler on your porch. Profound goes to five ZIP codes and is working to expand its delivery capacity, Bednar says. profoundfoods.com.
K Bar K Meats, a regular at Frisco Rotary Farmers Market, is taking orders by email. You print off an order form, fill it out, scan it and return by email. “Make sure I respond,” says manager Scott Galyon, who says he filled a hundred orders last Thursday. You’ll pay for your order in person when you pick it up. The delivery calendar under the “pasture raised meats” tab shows drop-off points, which include Plano, Wylie, Flower Mound, Frisco and the Colony. kbarkmeats.com.
Rehoboth Ranch in Greenville has an established network of drop-point locations across North Texas, with more in the works. In addition to its pastured meats, the ranch offers Alaskan salmon fished by a family member, flash-frozen and shipped straight to the ranch. rehobothranch.com. Buck Creek Meats is also working to expand its delivery network. buckcreekmeat.com.
Farmbox Delivery is another way to get goods at home. The subscription service, not unlike the defunct Greenling, emphasizes local with products such as Mill-King milk (McGregor) and Windy Meadows Family Farm chicken (near Greenville), but also carries nonlocal items such as bananas, avocados and Texas citrus. “Since [last] Sunday,” owner Greg Hoover says, “we’ve doubled our business.” farmboxdelivery.com.
Fisher Family Farm and Ranch in Fruitvale is amping up its delivery service and adding produce from additional East Texas sources. David Fisher says he already delivers to a number of older or immune-compromised people as far from his farm as Bedford, Corinth and Arlington, and he’ll add whatever is needed. “We just figure it out,” he says. fisherfarmandranch.com.
Keith Coop says he is reviving the delivery feature of his D-Bar Farms near Ponder. “The demand is running me over,” he says. He’s developing drop-site locations in an area from Frisco to Keller and “up 35 to the Denton area.” He and his family will prepare produce boxes that can be ordered online and include not just his harvest, but items from nearby farms as well as some nonlocal, wholesale produce. dbarfarm.com.
Turn Compost is also gearing up to deliver local foods, including Empire Baking Co. breads, in the 17 ZIP codes it already services for food-scrap pickup. Check their website, Facebook or Instagram pages for developments. turncompost.com.
Market updates
The farmers markets that will be open the weekend of March 28, including Cowtown, Dallas, Coppell, White Rock and some of the Four Seasons locations, are increasing precautions to safeguard shoppers. These include extra space between vendors, hand-washing and sanitizer stations and stringent vendor sanitation rules, among others. Before entering the Market at the Dallas Farmers Market, shoppers will be required to wash their hands, and numbers will be metered.
The Dallas Shed at the Dallas Farmers Market will continue limiting its scope to veggies and meats, an arrangement that was successful last weekend. “Deluge is an understatement,” says vendor Thomas Locke of Bois d’Arc Meat Co. near Bonham. “I’m picking up beef on Friday,” he says, “and three-fourths of it is already sold.”
The Historic McKinney Farmers Market has the OK to operate on April 4. One of its most popular vendors, the Rosemary Bakery, is selling bread and some pastry 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays at Filtered in downtown McKinney. “Everything is done by preorder and is prepackaged,” says owner Brooke Carter.
Both Good Local Markets ― White Rock Farmers Market on Saturday and Lakewood Village on Sunday ― will operate as scheduled, but only with vendors who sell food essentials, such as eggs and produce, says market manager Casey Cutler.
Cutler also notes that her husband’s business, Urban Chicken, can’t keep up with the flood of requests for live chickens, the kind people raise in the backyard. “They want to start their own chicken coops,” she says. “We’re out of chickens. We have 70 young birds that people are already snatching up.”
Local foods takeaway: If you have a favorite vendor ― for breads, strawberries or Wagyu beef ― check its website or Facebook page for ways to connect. It’s a good idea to pre-order in the face of increased demand. We’re entering peak spring season, and everyone, virus or no, has goods to sell.
Kim Pierce is a Dallas freelance writer.