I recently had the delightful opportunity to speak with John Stoltzfus, a cherished member of our farming community from Winding Lane Farm in Oxford, PA. John is the dedicated grower behind the wonderful baby greens we proudly offer on the Philly Foodworks marketplace. John’s farm is conveniently located just 65 miles from our warehouse. During our engaging conversation, we explored his inspiring journey into farming, the remarkable changes his practices have undergone through the generations, and the potential benefits that expanding his sales with Philly Foodworks could bring to him and his family.

Alright let’s get into it!

Dylan: How did you get into farming:

John: I grew up with that. My father had a couple of acres of produce when I was growing up. When I was about 15, my father started a farmers market. We started one farmers market in South Philadelphia (Passyunk Square Farmers Market) with Bob Pierson from Farm to City. I ran that market at the fountain for 15 years, from 2006 to 2021. Jacob Esh now runs the fountain market.

Why did you decide to be a farmer?

When I was 20, I was home full time helping Dad, and I just knew that was what I wanted to do. I loved it. I loved growing the produce and taking it to market. I loved being home with my family and digging in the dirt. I loved working with nature.

How are your farming practices different from your Dads?

When I was a kid there was a lot more tilling. I have transitioned from a lot of tilling of the soil to more mulch. What I mean is we would go in every couple of weeks with a cultivator to turn the soil to control weeds. Now we do tarping and mulch with hay to control weeds. This allows us to avoid using any herbicides.

Tilling also makes the soil more vulnerable to erosion. In no-till systems like we use, the ground is always covered with something. When you till you are destroying the topsoil. The topsoil is where the wealth of the land is. That is where the life of the soil is. If you lose 2 inches, you have lost ⅔ of your life. The plants need that life to thrive. Most big farms replace those nutrients with fertilizers. The health of your topsoil is not something you can measure with numbers. You have destroyed an entire world.

Keeping it organic is important to us.

What other organic practices do you use?

We add mushroom compost and animal manure, as well as a little lime and fish fertilizer.

Do you enjoy growing food for people?

Well, yeah, if there were no farmers, there would be no food. Plus, when the economy goes bad and people lose jobs, they will always need to eat. There is a lot they can do without, but you can not live without food. I try to be conscious of this with how I grow the food because I know what I do to my produce will impact the people who eat it.

What challenges do you face?

I need a new well for irrigation. A new well is about $7,000 - $10,000. The pump is another $4,000.

Also, the carrot worm was really bad this year. Raising quality tomatoes is another challenge, especially when I am not selling them to Philly Foodworks. The aesthetic quality is so important for many other distributors. They weigh the look of the tomatoes at 75% when they are deciding what to buy.

What makes up the last 25% of their decision?

Well, that's a good question….

Even just packing the tomatoes really nicely is so important to the distributors. Just being packed really nicely can make a 20% difference in the selling price, while the taste probably only makes up 5% of their decision.

Now, if I am selling to Philly Foodworks or a farmers market, the taste is at least 75%

What impact on your business/farm/life would a 20% increase in sales do?

If I knew PFW was going to buy 20% more produce, I would grow more for Philly Foodworks. Currently, about 25% of what I grow goes to Philly Foodworks. I wish I could sell more to you.

Especially greens. I mean, I would not grow greens at all if it were not for Philly Foodworks. I would absolutely grow more if you could buy more. Any additional produce I grow takes me about 50% of the time of what the first took. For example, if I could grow 20% more greens, my costs would only go up by 10%. I could grow more from late fall to early spring when I am not as busy with summer produce. I would also cut out some of the things that are not as cost-efficient. If I could do more volume of what I am really good at and what I really enjoy, I could spend less time doing the things that I am not as good at. If I could grow 10 crops instead of 15, and those 10 crops were my best crops, then I would be a lot more efficient.

Could you afford the new well?

Absolutely.

How has Philly Foodworks impacted your life?

Philly Foodworks has played a big role in my life, especially when I made the transition from market to wholesale. I wanted to get out of markets for a number of reasons, and I could not have done that without Philly Foodworks. Back during COVID, our sales at Philly Foodworks were higher. If we could get back there, that would be amazing.

If you could say anything to Philly Foodworks customers, what would you say:

He chuckles… Enjoy the produce!

I couldn't agree more with John, enjoy the produce!