March 17, 2020

Dave Ridill of Clawson Greens shares his farming unique experiences farming in snowy Tetonia, Idaho.

Dave Ridill from Clawson Greens has made the impossible possible: in an area with a growing season that lasts less than three months (and is known for avalanches!), he has created a thriving year-round farming business that keeps surrounding restaurants flush with fresh greens even in the snowiest weather.

Download our interview with Dave to hear about his experiences!

CLAWSON GREENS WEBINAR

Or, keep reading to a re-cap of the webinar and Q&A with Dave.

Photo by Camrin Dengel, Teton Valley Magazine

Freight Farms: What’s the story behind your Freight Farms project?

Dave Ridill: Long story, short–my neighbors discovered Freight Farms while doing consulting work for Yosemite National Park. They were putting together a proposal for Yosemite to cut down on transportation costs and offer a new plan for food options inside the park. Yosemite didn’t end up going with their bid, so they approached me about starting a hydroponic farm business together. At the time, I was in the process of moving to Boston to go to paramedic school. However, after visiting Freight Farms, I decided to leave the Fire Department, where I was working at the time, and become a lettuce farmer. 

FF: Who do you sell to and how do you do it? 

DR: Our business model was focused on the restaurants in both Teton Valley and Jackson Hole, Idaho. The restaurant industry in our tourist town is booming. Despite highs and lows with seasonality, restaurants were the main focus in the inception of Clawson Greens.

We also tried a direct to consumer route (CSA) and the local natural food store. Due to time and labor increase, the CSA was not as profitable. We also have a very strong farmers market in both Teton Valley and Jackson so there was never a plan to try and compete with our local farmers. With an 85 day growing season, the local organic farmers already have a very short growing/selling season so adding another vendor to that market would just dilute an already competitive and small market. Our focus was on a market that no other local grower could tap into, year-round tourism. 

“Our focus was on a market that no other local grower could tap into, year-round tourism.”

— Dave Ridill

FF: Do you find that customers are willing to pay more for your premium product?

DR: This question reminds me of a meeting with the restaurant manager of our local pub. We sat down and looked over a year’s worth of invoices from his distributors and the price fluctuation that the seasons had. We also looked at his total costs after he factored in waste due to buying in bulk to get the best pricing. With price changes and waste, my higher-priced product that I guarantee was not much more expensive than Sysco. 

What I’m trying to say, is chefs will choose fresh local ingredients any day over large scale commercial produce. For them, it’s a selling opportunity: They market it by advertising the local farms/producers on their menus and have servers talk about the local products which are used in the specials. Consumers are willing to pay more for quality and to support local businesses.

“Chefs will choose fresh and local ingredients over large scale commercial produce any day. ”

— Dave Ridill

FF: How do you package your crops?

DR: From the start, Clawson Greens has made a point to not use single-use plastic clamshells or plastic bags. We use compostable corn-based bags for all our deliveries. On average, I put about 30 mini heads into 23-gallon compostable bags.

FF: What was the most challenging part of becoming a Freight Farmer and how were you able to overcome it?

DR: Becoming a Freight Farmer has many challenges much like starting any new business. There’s a steep learning curve but I enjoyed that process. The hardest part for me was understanding when to expand and how to grow with the business as it expanded. It was easy to transition from a full-time ski patroller to a part-time patrol/part-time farmer. However, as I added farms to grow the business, I found it hard to dive in and become a full-time farmer and business owner. 

Being thrown into the deep end of the pool overnight was the hardest and easiest way to become a business owner. When your only option is to sink or swim, you do everything you can to make it work. Failure was never an option so by taking that off the table, you’ve got one direction, forward! 

Implementing the ‘Profit First’ system is what really changed Clawson Greens. I went from a business that had money in the business account and was blindly throwing money around to pay bills, payroll and occasionally paying myself, to a business that knows exactly how much money to put towards operational expenses, taxes, owners’ compensation and most importantly, profit!

FF: What’s the best piece of advice you can give to people interested in becoming Freight Farmers?

DR: My advice is to hire the right people and acknowledge that you (the owner and operator) deserve to be paid accordingly.

“You are the one who puts in the most time, works late, lays awake at night thinking about the business.”

— Dave Ridill

This is where the profit-first system comes into play again. Being a farmer is hard, being a business owner is even harder. Being the owner and operator of a Freight Farm is very challenging and making a living at it can be a huge challenge. You can hire great employees but they will never go the extra mile that you the owner does. Over the past few years as an employer I’ve learned that you can teach people skills and procedures, but you can’t teach someone to care about your business. Only you can do that: you are the one who puts in the most time, works late, lays awake at night thinking about the business and at the end of the day, is the one who answers to whether the business is a success or failure. You need to pay yourself accordingly. Don’t start a business to make a living for someone else until you can make a living for yourself.  When you are ready to start hiring, find an employee that’s financially invested in the business. Their effort and quality of work has a direct impact on their income

Interested in learning more about Clawson Greens?

Hear how Dave created his thriving farming business in some of the harshest conditions in the U.S. when you sign up for our upcoming webinar!

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