Winter 2009

WNC has lost farms at a higher rate than the rest of the state, the recently released 2007 Agriculture Census shows. That’s bad news for the region, but maybe not as bad as it initially sounds. Tobacco farms saw the sharpest decline, while many farmers who grow other crops, such as Mike Brown, owner of Farside Farms in Alexander, have succeeded.

Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s analysis of the census data points out that 1,700 WNC farmers stopped growing tobacco but only 679 farms actually ceased operations. That means most farmers who stopped growing tobacco were able to switch to other marketable crops or that new farmers replaced them.  Brown says, “Tobacco was my mainstay, but I saw the buyout coming.” Prior to the 2004 Tobacco Buyout, which purchased farmers’ quotas to grow tobacco and marked the end of major tobacco cultivation in WNC, he transitioned to a diversified farm.

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Farside Farms now produces vegetables, eggs, chicken, pork, and beef. All of the meat and eggs are from antibiotic and hormone free animals raised at Farside Farms. Products are Appalachian Grown, which means they are certified by an ASAP program that identifies family farm products grown or raised in Western North Carolina and the southern Appalachian mountains. Brown also cans and freezes value-added products such as tomato juice and sauce and diced peppers, and runs his own store.

The Farside Farms store is located at 83 Weaverville Highway just north of Beaver Lake. Additional vendors of Farside Farm products include The Fresh Market, Earth Fare, Greenlife, French Broad Food Co-op, and WNC Farmer’s Market in Asheville; Haywood Road Market in West Asheville; and New Bridge Country Market in Oteen. West End Bakery, Over Easy Cafe, Tomato Jam, Newbridge Cafe, Cafe Azalea, Tupelo Honey Cafe, Rise and Shine, The Dripolator, Rosetta's Kitchen, and French Broad Chocolate Lounge serve dishes with ingredients from Farside Farms.

Continuing to diversify, this spring Brown is launching a new meat and egg CSA (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Participants in Community Supported Agriculture programs pre-pay to be members of a farm and receive a share of its harvest every week. CSAs provide a direct link to a particular farm and its seasonal products).  Expanding on the concept of the popular CSA programs around the region that provide produce,  Farside Farm’s subscribers will receive a dozen eggs and five pounds of meat—a selection of chicken, pork, or beef—each week.  Brown hopes the CSA will encourage people to try a variety of his foods, and also give people with limited finances access to fresh, local food.

“I don’ farm for the money,” Brown laughs. “I farm because everybody wants to know where their food comes from. I don’t want to reach into the cupboard and pull out a can out and not know what’s in it or if it’s going to make me sick. The food I sell comes from my farm—I can tell you that.” Brown even grinds his own animal feed, so he knows what’s in it too. Brown has turned down opportunities to scale up his operation. “I could produce more volume, but then I couldn’t keep this level of quality.”

His businesses truly started small. Brown grew up in a housing project in Oteen, but that didn’t keep him from farming. While he was still in elementary school, he found an   abandoned chicken coop on neighboring land. He restored it to production and peddled the eggs door to door in his neighborhood.

Only after buying the farm in Alexander where he lives now did Brown discover it had belonged to his relatives in the 1800s, a coincidence that might seem to confirm he was meant to be there. Brown says of his vocation, “I’ve loved farming since I was a child, loved to see seeds put in the ground, loved to see animals born and raised.”