Capturing More of the Value of What You Produce

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Fourth-generation farmer Ben Moore understands the importance of building a solid relationship with your buyers. Now, as owner and founder of the upcycled food brand, The Ugly Company, Moore says he sees the other side of the spectrum.

Moore… “I mean, one of the main reasons I started this myself was to get back to farming. You know, I learned as a grower watching the ups and downs of our farm, if you’re not selling your product, you’re the first person screwed every time right. So if the market dips or if anything happens, if you don’t have that relationship with your buyer…”

Moore said taking a leap of faith to start The Ugly Company was both an economic and environmental decision.

Moore… “To me this is a way, with our Sunmaid growing background, to say hey, if I want to keep farming in our family, you know, we got to make a little bit of money here, but I want to build something where I can sell my end product, so that’s very important to me, that we’re now building here, and that’s one reason why we’re buying some persimmon trees, because we now have the relationship and place to sell it fresh and also what 10 or 20 or 30% of that fruit that we can’t sell, we can now process and sell ourselves in an upcycled manner, so that’s really important for me.”

Moore hopes to both prevent food waste and to add value back into family farms. Learn more at theuglyco.com.