Dec 09
Contrarian Farm is run by former CCCC Sustainable Agriculture students Brittany Kordick and Dan Shields. I first met Dan during the South Estes Farmers’ Market “Meet your Farmer” event last winter at University Mall. I think I was one of the few people that day who actually wanted to sit through the Powerpoint about how they process rabbits. I started attending the market nearly every week and come summer I made my first venture out to the farm to witness the actual processing of the rabbits. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s focus back on the farm.
Contrarian Farm is just that – contrarian. Dan got his start in finance, where a contrarian is someone who goes against the prevailing investment ideas. On the farm they hold true to their contrarian ideals is a number of ways – the most obvious of which is their small herd of goats. They do not sell goat meat or milk, and only rarely process one to feed themselves, but rather keep the goats out of sheer pleasure (at least for Dan). Most farmers would get rid of a practice that wasn’t bringing more money into the farm, but the goats are an important part of Contrarian and thus they remain.
They also hold a different farming philosophy than most – they choose to place importance on local rather than organic, and they farm sustainably not out of a deep sense of protection of the land but rather because to them it just makes good business sense. Here in the Triangle they have access to educated consumers with deep pockets who demand local food, so the more local, sustainable produce and meat they are able to provide the more money they’ll make!
In the next year they plan on focusing more of their efforts on their wholesale growing operation out in Stokes County, north of Greensboro. They will move there full-time and begin selling at the Greensboro Curb Market in the spring while cultivating new wholesale accounts (No word yet on whether they will remain at the South Estes Farmers’ Market – I hope they do, but I’ll make the trek to Greensboro every once in a while for their carrots alone). Dan and Brittany have chosen to focus future wholesale efforts on places like Harris Teeter and Piggly Wiggly rather than Weaver Street or Whole Foods for reasons that are intrinsic to their farming philosophy. According to Brittany, “We don’t want to sell expensive garnish items to rich yuppies and Weaver Street just to further a trend that we don’t particularly like or think will last.” Many local and organic advocates would likely disagree with that statement, but at Contrarian they are focused on making local, healthy food available to a wide swath of people from varying socioeconomic backgrounds.
Currently at their Pittsboro farm they have been experimenting with pasture raised rabbits, with mixed results. Very few people are actually raising rabbits for meat on pasture, and they’ve had numerous setbacks that have made it difficult to meet the high demand such a niche item garners at market. One high point of their rabbit adventure was the 2009 Farm to Fork Picnic where they partnered their rabbit meat with the skills of Hillsborough’s Panciuto restaurant to rave reviews.
Where do they see themselves further down the road? According to Brittany they plan to be in Stokes county for a while, where they hope to accumulate enough land to begin farming on a larger scale while still employing their sustainable practices. Their ultimate goal is to be able to provide food for everyone and anyone who wishes to buy from them. Eventually they hope to make enough money to move back to the Triangle region because of growing conditions and a central location making it easier to sell statewide.
In the meantime however you can still find Dan and Brittany selling at the South Estes Farmers Market on Saturdays. You can also find their produce at Chatham Marketplace down in Pittsboro. My recommendations? Carrots, radishes, and of course their delicious eggs.