Central Pa. farms participate in a co-op that provides fresh food, helps farmers
Dozens of central Pennsylvania farmers have come together to form a cooperative, christened Kinfork, that serves a two-fold purpose — keeping families on farms and offering both businesses and individual consumers products that they might not find anywhere else.
“By pulling our resources together, we’re hoping that everyone will win,” said John Esh, a member of Kinfork’s executive board and the co-op’s marketing director, as well as owner of Goot Essa. “The consumer will win by having an excellent-quality product and the farmers will win by having a market for their product.”
Kinfork got its start in 2018 but discussions starting about a year before that, Esh said.
“We were noticing the amounts of family farms that were no longer economically viable. ... We were concerned how that might affect our values in the next generation or two,” he said. “There’s a group of us who feel very strongly that maintaining the values that come with working in agriculture — getting some soil between your fingers, working with animals and teaching our children at a young age how to be responsible by giving them some chores on the farm — is very important.”
Currently, Kinfork offers grass-fed beef and dairy products to retail consumers, primarily in bulk quantities, while offering the same, plus produce, to wholesale customers, including restaurants, supermarkets and boutique liquor stores. Beef and cheese can be directly shipped to consumers’ homes, while a retail shop is also open for business every day of the week at 4657 Brush Valley Road in Madisonburg.
“The beef is raised without the hormones that a lot of beef lots use. It’s raised in a very natural environment. We know these animals have been cared for. They have access to pasture,” Esh said. “The milk we use to make the cheese is also produced right here in Centre County. (The cheese) is made in smaller batches and we age it perhaps a bit longer than … the cheeses in the grocery store. Again, this milk is produced on family farms where the husbandry of the animals is very important to us. We like our cows. We care for our cows. They have names. They get a lot of special attention.”
While the co-op also sells its beef products at the farmers market that takes place Saturday mornings at State College Assembly of God, 2201 University Drive, Esh noted that it’s often just not viable for the co-op’s individual farms to attend regional farmers markets on their own.
“Most of these farms are busy with the production side of things — taking care of the animals, taking care of the crops, the produce,” he said. “Devoting a half a day a week at the farmers market and another half a day or so to prepare and clean up after you’re done is just taking more time than they had to offer. There’s also the marketing aspect. In agriculture, a lot of us are geared toward producing a product, but not many have experience with marketing a product.”
Most of Kinfork’s co-op members — which totals approximately 40 farms — are located in Centre County, with a handful in western Clinton County.
Looking to the future, Kinfork aims to expand its product line and market, in order to help as many family farms as possible.
Today, consumers can place orders online, at kinfork.com (or go direct to Kinfork’s e-commerce platform, choplocal.com/kinfork), or at the Saturday State College Assembly of God farmers market. Delivery orders are shipped within a few days. Orders can also be picked up at the Kinfork retail shop in Madisonburg. Kinfork’s cheeses can also be purchased locally from Centre County retailers including Long Lane Farm Stand in Centre Hall and Burkolders Market in Spring Mills.
Holly Riddle is a freelance food, travel and lifestyle writer. She can be reached at holly.ridd@gmail.com.
