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On June 13, clouds loomed overhead
and a harsh rain fell—but the people inside the newly renovated
facility on Mt. Pulaski’s town square were not discouraged. The
community was celebrating with bright smiles, clashing with the dark
sky. Despite the weather, community members packed into the open
house for FarmFed Co-Op, a long-time grassroots dream finally
realized.
“I’m going to sleep well tonight
knowing it rained on our opening night,” said Tom Martin, the
president of Farmfed. “I take it as a good sign—an omen of success.”
FarmFed is more than a cooperative, it’s the product of years of
community organizing and determination. The idea began back in 2017
during a series of roundtable discussions about how Mt. Pulaski
could boost both farmers and the local economy. First they discussed
a local grocery store, and then evolved to talk of an infrastructure
for local food production, processing, and distribution.
Martin, a lifelong farmer who helped spearhead the project,
explained that the biggest hurdle wasn’t convincing people local
food mattered—it was creating the system to make it possible.
“Everybody loves the concept and the idea of local foods,” he said.
“But the system, the business model… it’s not there. It’s more built
for distribution out of California. We've had to piece it all
together.”
In 2019, Mt. Pulaski was selected
as one of just 15 towns nationwide to receive the EPA’s Local Food,
Local Places grant, a major boost that helped lay the foundation.
FarmFed went on to receive a $148,000 award from the state’s Local
Food Infrastructure Grant Program—standing out among more than 250
applicants statewide.
Video - Tom Martin and Molly
Pickering Discuss FarmFED Co-Op at an open house in Mt. Pulaski,
Illinois
“That tells you two things,” said Molly Pickering, policy director
for the Illinois Stewardship Alliance. “One, the demand for local
food infrastructure in Illinois is enormous. And two, FarmFed’s
application stood out in a very competitive pool. That speaks
volumes about the vision, the planning, and the people behind this
co-op.”
FarmFed operates as a cooperative
and processing facility aimed at helping small, local farmers get
their food into schools, hospitals, grocery stores, and beyond. Its
services include custom produce processing, freezing, cold storage
rentals, and access to a licensed commercial kitchen. The initial
product focus includes sweet corn, carrots, peppers, and broccoli.
But the mission goes beyond
logistics. “The demand for local food is there. It is growing,”
Pickering emphasized during the open house. “Despite being a
national leader here in agriculture production, Illinois currently
imports about 95% of the food we eat. That means 95 cents of every
dollar that you spend on food leaves our state [that’s] around $46
billion every year that could be reinvested in local farms,
businesses and communities.”
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By shortening the supply chain,
FarmFed ensures more food dollars stay in Logan
County—supporting jobs, schools, and local families.
Martin said the co-op is especially focused on reaching
institutions like schools, hospitals, and even prisons—places
that could offer reliable, large-scale demand for produce.
“Every one of these farmers, if they wanted to, could grow from
five acres to 10 acres and actually become more profitable and
actually self-sustaining,” he said. “And so our goal was to be
able to allow them to grow their operation and do what they do
best, and that's raise it, and let us handle the marketing,
processing and distribution.”
But the open house wasn’t just a ribbon-cutting, it was a
reunion of everyone who had helped bring the idea to life.
FarmFed’s facility now includes a commercial kitchen, blast
freezer, and cold storage—all installed debt-free thanks to
stockholders and supporters.
“A lot of our strength comes from
our stockholders and people investing,” Martin said. “If we had not
one of these people here, we’d have been in trouble. There’s just no
way one person could have done it.”
FarmFed’s cooperative model allows anyone to purchase shares and
participate in the decision-making process. Three levels of stock
are available, and recent fiscal agreements have opened the door for
tax-deductible donations and new sponsorships
Despite the celebration, the journey has had its lows. “In November
of last year, our board met and we were financially almost at the
end of our rope,” Martin said. “We didn’t have a general manager,
and we had to decide whether to shut the doors or move forward. The
whole board raised their hands and said, ‘This is worth fighting
for.’”
FarmFed’s goals are ambitious but
grounded in community. The team hopes to expand partnerships with
schools and hospitals, scale their processing output, and eventually
hire a full-time staff. Their 2025 goal is to raise $25,000 in
sales.
“I compared it to the 1900s and someone wanting to go to the moon,”
Martin said. “It was a great idea, but there was no way to get to
the moon. I think local foods had to have all these steps in place
to make it work.”
Today, thanks to people across
Logan County, those steps are finally in place—and FarmFed is ready
to launch.
Video - FarmFED Co-Op
President Tom Martin speaks with LDN's Sophia Larimore
[Sophia Larimore]
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