More Consumers Seeking Out Local Farmers for Food


“I think people are looking to seek out their farmers because they saw empty shelves the grocery store, honestly. And so, they’re searching for a local way to get their groceries,” says Jessi Anliker from Heritage Homestead Farms in West Lafayette.
HAT caught up with Jessi at her booth while walking around the West Lafayette Farmer’s Market this week. She’s been very happy with the traffic at this summer’s farmer’s market. She believes the pandemic made consumers rethink their shopping habits and it’s leading them to seek out farmers directly.
“They want to know where their food came from, so they want to get to know their farmer and how it was raised in the process. I also think that people got used to shopping online during the pandemic. So, I’m finding our website has really increased its traffic over the last year.”
Heritage Homestead Farms sells beef and eggs at the farmer’s market.
“We have about 80 head of cattle right now. We do cow-calf and we raise them on our farm. Then we butcher and process our steers. They’re out on pasture 100 percent of the time, and we do live in Indiana, so they eat hay that we produce on our own farm as well. We also have about 50 laying hens right now. So, we do pasture raised and they’re out with the cows literally in the same pastures eating the bugs and enjoying all the pasture life they can have.”
And Jessi says egg business has been good.
“So, people are coming to the farmers since their local grocery stores might have been out or they’re seeing a big increase in prices for the pasture raised eggs in the grocery store. So, we’re still actually cheaper than the grocery store is for the same product. We’re about $5 a dozen right now and the grocery stores for pasture raised eggs I see anywhere from $5.50 to $7 a dozen right now.”
If you’re looking for a local farmer to find your beef, eggs, or anything from the farm, visit indianagrown.org.

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