Wegmans Harrisburg produce manager Hayden Flot has developed a keen awareness of his customer’s needs and wants. Tastes vary among individual customers, but one thing is consistent. He attests, “Our customers here at the Harrisburg location and in Central Pennsylvania love and support local produce.”

 

That consumer demand has led to a unique partnership between Wegmans and Spiral Path Farm, a certified organic produce farm in Loysville. The store carries much of the farm’s produce, including their popular organic butter lettuce and organic mixed greens salad kits. The grape tomatoes became so popular that they collaborated to create a co-branded version called Spiral Path Sweets.

 

The partnership began in 2003, when Spiral Path Farm began selling extra produce to Wegmans. “They liked our stuff, and we liked working with them,” says Will Brownback, son of Spiral Path Farm founders Mike and Terra Brownback. Wegmans gradually purchased more produce from Spiral Path Farm, but the relationship scaled up substantially when their produce caught the eye of store owner Danny Wegman, the grandson of founders John and Walter Wegman.

 

Spiral Path Farm grows wholesale crops exclusively for Wegmans, operates a large community-supported agriculture (CSA) program and is a vendor at two farmers markets in the Washington, D.C., area. “Danny was inspecting stores in the area and our product jumped out at him,” recalls Will. “Danny and his leadership team visited our farm in 2013. After that tour, he said he wanted to buy everything we grow.”

 

Spiral Path Farm produce can be found in more than 100 Wegmans locations throughout the East Coast. The businesses work together to implement growing and buying plans and certain crops are grown specifically to meet Wegmans’ needs. “We are a large company, but working directly with a farm allows us to build a strong relationship,” says Flot. “When we know the farmer, we can work together to best suit customers’ requests.”

 

While Spiral Path Farm isn’t the only produce farm from which Wegmans purchases, Flot says they are their go-to for organic produce. “Knowing that we have a farm dedicated to growing organically meets what our customers want and ask for.”

 

A Pioneer in Organic Agriculture

 

Mike and Terra formed Spiral Path Farm in 1978. They farmed pigs until the early 1990s, but also maintained a large garden that supplied food for the family. Then they wanted to do something different, and chose vegetable farming.

 

Spiral Path Farm became certified organic in 1994—a rare accomplishment for the time. Today they are certified through Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO), a private certifier under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mike is a co-founder of PCO.

 

“We want to feed people and provide the most nutritious food possible,” affirms Will. Because healthy food begins with healthy soil, he is a proponent of growing cover crops. He plants a four-way mix of cereal rye, annual rye, crimson clover and hairy vetch. These crops overwinter and protect the soil via photosynthesis, which helps maintain healthy microbial populations during colder months. Cover crops also help prevent soil erosion. In spring, the lush plant mass is tilled into the soil as part of a nutrient cycling process.

 

Cover crops help suppress weeds, and Will and his crew hand-weed any that show up without using herbicides. They know healthy plants can better fend off pests and disease, but when these issues do occur, Will implements row covers—large sheets that cover an entire field—to smother pests. He uses organically approved sprays sparingly and only when necessary.

 

Will says his farm’s partnership with Wegmans helps diversify their wholesale operations. “We grow things for them like parsley and dandelion greens. This relationship has bred a lot of diversity into what we grow.” He sees the Spiral Path Farm/Wegmans partnership remaining firm into the future as opportunities for organic products continue to grow. Flot agrees. “This partnership works for them, it works for us and most importantly, it works for our customers.”

 

Spiral Path Farm is located at 538 Spiral Path Ln., in Loysville. For more information, call 717-789-4433 or visit SpiralPathFarm.com. Wegmans has multiple locations in Central Pennsylvania; for more information, call 717-791-4500 or visit Wegmans.com.

 

Sheila Julson is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Natural Awakenings.