Business owner rides local demand for organic crops

It's nearly noon on Wednesday, and Andrea Harms waits for a customer to pick up a bag of organic produce.

By Becky Bowers, Times Staff Writer
Published October 14, 2007

Andrea Harms, owner of Sweet Pea Organics in Largo, bags lettuce and other produce for a co-op customer at her store. Harms began running a co-op out of her home about 2 1/2 years ago, because she said she couldn't find anything like it in the area.
	[Ted McLaren | Times]

It's nearly noon on Wednesday, and Andrea Harms waits for a customer to pick up a bag of organic produce.

Last year, she would have been waiting in her house in Indian Rocks Beach - waiting for 12 families to overrun the place for their weekly bounty of fruits and veggies.

But after a year of running an organic co-op from home, where she plugged in three fridges outside, it was time. She opened a Largo store. And business booms right alongside demand for organic crops.

Harms, 37, started out wanting to feed her two young kids organic produce. But a co-op she joined in Clearwater didn't always serve up kid-friendly fare. Kale, chard, turnips and beets weren't on her toddlers' favorite-food lists.

She started the Flip Flop Co-op, using a distributor that could get her kid-approved produce even in the Florida summer. A year later she moved to a 200-square-foot space in the back of a friend's business, calling her venture Sweet Pea Organics. In February, she moved next door into her own storefront at 12788 Indian Rocks Road in Largo, in the Kings Row Shopping Plaza.

Her co-op participation has grown from 24 people to 65, who pay $25 to $30 a week for a big reusable bag or basket of fresh produce.

Juan Carlos Rodriguez does education and outreach for Florida Certified Organic Growers & Consumers, a nonprofit organization in Gainesville that certifies most organic growers in the state.

People want local, fresh, organic produce, he said, but they also want to know where their food comes from. A business like Harms' puts them closer to their food.

She buys from a national distributor, Albert's Organics. But she scours the list of available produce for local growers. She buys from small farms. She traces the food back to its source and shares that insight with co-op members.

She also joined Sweetwater Organic Community Farm, a nonprofit, community-supported agriculture venture in Tampa since 1995.

Sweetwater is thriving, recently spreading to a third growing site, this one in Clearwater. More than 200 members pay for the harvest from the first two sites, said executive director Rick Martinez. Forty members for the Clearwater farm will soon enjoy its first harvest - and memberships are almost sold out.

It's no surprise that this area's seeing growth in organic ventures. The southeast has the fastest-growing demand for organic and natural products in the country, said Frank McCarthy, vice president of marketing for Albert's Organic.

"It was the last area of the country to adopt organic products, but it's catching up very quickly," he said.

Geraldson Community Farm, a community-supported agriculture venture in Bradenton, will share its very first harvest in November. Memberships are sold out.

Nationally, organic food sales reached $13.8-billion in 2005, about 2.5 percent of the retail food market, according to the Organic Trade Association. That's up from 1.9 percent in 2003 and 0.8 percent in 1997.

In Florida, certified organic farms and processors have increased 15 to 20 percent a year since 2002. There are now 135 entities in the state, from growers to processors to livestock producers, with organic status, according to the Florida Certified Organic Growers & Consumers.

And while no one keeps track of the number of produce co-ops in the region, they seem to be growing just as robustly as the national market for organics.

"I hear every day about other co-ops springing up here and there," Harms said.

"Co-op" has a wide definition, from Harms' version, essentially a club that helps members pool their buying power, to businesses that are fully owned by their customers.

Albert's, the nation's largest distributor of organic produce, has seen its sales to buying clubs and independent natural food retailers grow at a 10 percent clip. They make up about 60 percent of Albert's southeast sales, close to $1-million a month, McCarthy said.

Albert's will soon double the capacity of its distribution center in Florida, and move it from Lakeland to Sarasota, McCarthy said.

Harms hopes to see her venture blossom the same way. She plans to add specialty foods and grow her co-op business to turn a profit.

She's adding a business partner. They'll keep the Largo location, but rename the business "Crunchy Mama" to reflect their focus on mothers and kids.

"So far it's been a labor of love," Harms said. "I hope it doesn't remain that way forever."

Becky Bowers can be reached at bbowers@sptimes.com or 727 893-8859.

[Last modified October 15, 2007, 11:14:51]