When Bernadette Brogden took the role of Produce Manager of our Co-op in July of 2021, they were excited to continue the legacy of cooperation with the farmers we work with. Bernadette has taken that spirit of cooperation to the next level by meeting with farmers to help plan the crops they’ll grow based on what our customers will want.

This idea was born because Bernadette and her team noticed that every peak season, many of our farmers had an abundance of the same exact crop. For example, during summer squash season, we know that there is a limit to how much zucchini we can sell and many of our local farmers were growing zucchini. So every summer we had to pick and choose who we would buy from and limit how much we were buying from each farmer. It also meant that local farmers had to compete with each other for our business.

Bernadette’s background is in farming, so they’re knowledgeable and empathetic to the experiences of farmers. They were able to see how this predicament could be remedied. Organic farmers do this work because they love it, and they especially love growing unique varieties of fruits and vegetables. So Bernadette asked our farmers if they’d enjoy growing different varieties of pattypan or crookneck instead of zucchini. 

This is a win-win for us, the farmers and our customers! We get to offer an abundance of different colors, shapes and sizes of produce to our customers, farmers get to have some fun growing something different, and aren’t left with loads of produce they can’t sell.

Because we have the luxury of a high volume of produce sales, Bernadette has been able to work with the smaller farmers who rely on Co-op sales to grow specific crops for us. Soil Born, Good Humus, Spreadwing and Terra Firma all have “Sac Natural Co-op Beds” set aside for us.
We pride ourselves in offering a variety of seasonal, local organic produce which is in no small part because of our close connections we have developed over the years with our farmers. These growing close connections benefit everyone involved and help to strengthen our local food system