This story is sponsored by Richland Gro-Op.
MANSFIELD — Starting Monday, June 27, Richland County residents can expect to have a box of fresh locally grown produce delivered to their doorstep courtesy of a new program from the Richland Gro-Op (RGO).
“(The Richland Gro-Op) is a collective group of rural and urban farmers that originally started out due to a collaboration between NECIC, OSU Mansfield, Idea Works and others,” RGO’s Aggregation Manager/Crop Planner Jessica Hudson said. “At this point, we are our own entity, our own business.”
According to the RGO’s website, the group currently consists of eight different farmers with the goal of ending food deserts, areas with little to no access to nutritious local produce, in the Mansfield area and providing economic development to the North End of Mansfield.
Much of the produce sold by the Gro-Op is grown on one of their many microfarms, tiny farms that are often based around urban areas to provide fresh produce.
Originally, RGO’s goal was to sell primarily to schools and large businesses, like hospitals. But with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many of these businesses were buying less product, leaving the RGO with extra produce. They have been looking for more ways to sell directly to the general public.
“We were really trying to figure out a way to get (our produce) into the hands of the community,” RGO Board President Matthew Stanfield said. “One of the things that came out of that was the subscription box method or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).”
The Gro-Op has been interested in doing a CSA subscription box for a long time but struggled with the manpower and logistics required to put the program together.
“Walt Bonham was spearheading the idea of doing CSA boxes last year,” Hudson said. “We did a few boxes, but we didn’t have the manpower to be able to farm, pack and distribute the boxes.”
Fortunately, YellowBird Foodshed, a long-time business partner of the Gro-Op based out of Mount Vernon, was already running a subscription produce program.
“Yellowbird was already in that space,” Stanfield said. “They have all that infrastructure already built for the distribution of boxes for a subscription service.”
While Yellowbird is building the boxes, the produce Richland County residents will receive in their boxes will mostly be grown by the RGO. Any produce included in the boxes that isn’t currently being grown by the RGO will come from other Ohio-based farmers.
Customers can purchase a box from YellowBird’s website and can choose between having a box delivered every week or every two weeks.
The boxes are available in three different sizes: the mini which costs $25, the base which costs $35, and the full which costs $45.
The mini contains five to eight types of produce, the base has eight to 12 types of produce and the full will be packed with 10 to 14 types of produce.
Customers can’t choose what types of produce will be included in the box, as it’s based on what is in stock. However, YellowBird also offers a custom box package through their website where you can select from a wide range of grocery items.
Boxes can be both delivered to your home for a fee or picked up at the Idea Works Commercial Kitchen in Downtown Mansfield.
RGO and YellowBird will begin taking subscription box orders for Richland county June 27th. You can also buy RGO produce at the NECIC North End Farmers Market on Thursdays from 4-7 p.m. and Stoodt’s Fresh Market in Bellville.
Note: Jay Allred, President of Richland Source, sits on the board for Idea Works. He was not involved in the production of this sponsored content article.
