Agricultural asset: Bogard Food Hub hopes to extend sales season for Valley farmers

WASILLA — Bogard Food Hub may sound like a fast-food restaurant or a place to pick up a quick gallon of milk and a loaf of bread on the way home. According to Unified Operations, LLC President and CEO Terry Smith, he and partner Richelle Plummer have started the business in the Valley to help local farmers.

“(We want) to help small and mid-sized farmers consolidate their production and bring it to market. The facility is called the Bogard Food Hub. The distribution center has dry, freeze and cold storage capacity to help extend the selling season for local producers,” Smith said.

The 10,000-square-foot facility, with an additional 2,800 square feet of cold storage capacity, can provide storage for regional farmers’ product that might otherwise go unused. Smith said that includes fruits, vegetables and other harvestable goods. Processed meats are also in the mix.

The facility is located near the Bogard-Seldon Road intersection northeast of Wasilla

“Our plan this summer, is to buy local crops to sell fresh, or that can freeze during the year, and let the farmers participate in the upside when it sells,” Smith said. “The frozen crops will be processed for the wholesale market where we will create a frozen-pack. We then sell the inventory down until the next harvest cycle.”

Smith said the process is the same as the one used by the fishing industry.

“They create a frozen pack for salmon each year and then sell it down to restart the cycle again each summer,” Smith said.

Smith said Bogard Food Hub is launching this spring with poultry, and will expand into eggs, and vegetables this year. The first larger scale poultry production has kicked off with fresh and frozen broiler chickens from the Mat-Su Farm Co-Op run by Plummer and the 30 farmers on her team. The broiler production will be year-round, with the first batch of 700 ready for sale by the end of next month. Smith said based on demand, plans are to grow production to 4,000 a month by this time next year.

“We hear a lot of stories from farmers that leave crops in the ground because the selling season is so short and there is little infrastructure to help create a longer market,” Smith said. “The Department of Agriculture is currently running a survey to find out how much production from our farmers goes unsold each year by type. It would be great to have a strong response to it so the business community can find more ways to help our farmers turn their crops into cash.”

Smith said future plans also call for developing part of the facility into a US Department of Agriculture-approved kitchen facility. That will provide farmers with the opportunity to develop and market their products commercially.

“We want those using it to tell us what they want it to look like,” Smith said.

Smith and his associates are well under way with that part of the project. He explained with the recent opening of the new Fred Meyer store in Palmer, they were able to purchase a large amount of kitchen equipment from the old store. That included a large amount of frozen food units, and the store’s commercial ovens.

Smith said with the hub in its infancy, they are seeking Valley farmers interested in contracting with the business to hop on board. Those interested or having questions can contact Smith at 907-360-2403 or email him at tsmith@unifiedops.com.

Conatact reporter Chris Ford at 252-2270 or chris.ford@frontiersman.com

Editor’s note: Terry Smith’s email has been corrected.