Shifting seasons and the winding-down of local farmers markets doesn’t have to mean eating lower-quality food shipped in from faraway locales. Fresh, seasonal, authentically and organically grown, custom-harvested food delivered year-round is a possibility, thanks to Agricultural Connections.
Founded in 2010, Agricultural Connections is a specialized food distributor working with local and regional farmers. Its primary farm partners are all located within approximately 125 miles of Bend with over a dozen right here in Central Oregon. Produce, meats and eggs are harvested and packed on the farms, transported to the Ag Connections warehouse in northeast Bend and handed out within 48 hours, guaranteeing freshness.
The small but mighty Ag Connections team is on a mission to revolutionize the food industry, honoring the farmer, the consumer and the land equally. Think of them as the connection between the farmers and kitchens of all sizes, bringing fresh foods to Central Oregon tables all year long.
Ag Connections Retail Coordinator & Lead Leslie O’Neil explains: “We’re a regional food hub and we connect local and regional farmers and ranchers, organically and sustainably focused, to our local restaurants and our local community members.” O’Neil emphasizes that farmers are the heart and soul of their work as they strive for the successful evolution of the regional food system.
Working with a constantly expanding list of farm partners, Ag Connect (the nickname often used by customers) offers a 24/7 online portal where its customers can order high-quality seasonal produce and other foods three times weekly from those farm partners. Consumers can be individuals and families as well as restaurants, food carts, grocery stores and other commercial clients.
What’s unique about it is that it’s not a CSA. “We’re very flexible compared to your traditional CSA because every box, every week, is a different rotation of seasonal product. We’re pulling from all the different farms and ranches that we can and making sure that we’re getting something seasonal, something as local as possible, also something organic and sustainably-minded and we’re rotating our nutritional content,” O’Neil says. There’s no pre-payment required; customers pay only for what you order each week and can take a break whenever they want. The weekly Ag Connect harvest boxes come in three sizes, offering flexibility and variety thanks to its partnership with numerous farms and ranches. All orders are available for pickup or home delivery each week.
An item to note is that Agricultural Connections became a cooperative in 2022, which means it is owned and operated by its members — the people and organizations who grow, serve, transport and eat the food. Any excess profit is distributed to the member-owners. The thinking behind that shift is that a cooperatively owned entity would best serve producers and be all-inclusive to producer members and serve all people in the entire system.
Sales & Fulfillment Manager Miguel Mendoza works closely with partner farms and ranches, even helping them with crop planning to meet the needs of local restaurants, chefs and markets. A Western Culinary Institute graduate, Mendoza grew up on an Eastern Oregon ranch and has run kitchens in some of Bend’s most well-known establishments over the past couple of decades. With that background, he’s the perfect liaison between the growers and the consumers.
“We have an adaptable program to accommodate everyone from small mom and pop food carts to posh fine dining restaurants to even bigger places like large golf resorts,” he states. “Our big push in the last couple of years has been to offer our service outside of Bend proper to communities such as Sisters, Redmond and Sunriver.”
The integrity and authenticity of local food is of paramount importance to Mendoza. “At the time you’re seeing a product in our newsletter or on our website, the inventory is still in the ground while you’re shopping, so it’s coming direct off the farm for ultimate freshness and amazing shelf life.”
A current box from Ag Connections included: sweet corn, broccoli, huckleberry potatoes, orange honeydew melons, lacinato kale, cherry tomatoes, baby eggplant and easter egg radishes. For those with the holiday season already in mind, the Fall harvest box is chock-full of beautiful produce perfect for Thanksgiving dinners. Restaurants, chefs, grocery stores and other commercial businesses are invited to see what Ag Connections can do by calling or connecting online anytime.
Think of Agricultural Connections as a one-stop shop for local, healthful food available any time of year from nearby farms and ranches. Those farms and ranches include Boundless Farmstead, DD Ranch, Fields Farm, Rainshadow Organics, Sungrounded Farms, Deschutes Canyon Garlic and many others. Check out the Agricultural Connections website for a complete listing of its farm and distributor partners.
This article appears in Source Weekly September 14, 2023.
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