Sappington Farmers’ Market — Our History
Over the years, Sappington Farmers’ Market has become a St. Louis icon. The market has been known as a great place to purchase a huge variety of produce at excellent prices. The market’s twenty-year history has included special attention to ethnic foods in an effort to serve Latino, Asian and Eastern European populations in St. Louis.
Sharing a Dream
Early in 2004, Nancy Smith (an herb grower from Southeast Missouri and a business consultant) and Russ Kremer (president of Missouri Farmers Union and founder of Ozark Mountain Pork and Heritage Acres) became aware of the possibility of buying the market. Nancy and Russ shared a dream of providing a link between Missouri’s sustainable farmers and St. Louis consumers. They began the process which resulted in Farm-to-Family Naturally’s purchase of Sappington Farmers’ Market in July 2008.
Farm to Family Natural Grows
Other farmers who shared the vision of bringing sustainably-grown Missouri farm products to St. Louis consumers became members of Farm to Family Naturally. Randy Wood, who had a hydroponic greenhouse operation in Licking, MO and was already delivering his cut herbs to St. Louis-area grocery stores, and Ron McNear, who is president of Missouri's Best Beef Cooperative, both saw the potential of having a farmer-owned grocery store. These members, and other early collaborators, Bryce Oates and Jim Byrd, brought their combined expertise and capital to the partnership.
Dream Becomes a Reality
In July of 2008, the dream became a reality. Farm to Family Naturally became the owner of Sappington Farmers Market. Since then, the group has built on the store’s previous successes, developed relationships with other sustainable farmers, and stocked the shelves with sustainably produced local meats, dairy, cheeses and produce.
The commitment to provide a good selection of ethnic foods remains. The store is still a full-service grocery store with reasonable prices. But now, Sappington Farmers Market is the first farmer-owned grocery store in St. Louis. The awesome array of local products has attracted consumers from throughout the St. Louis metro area. The dream is coming true.
Moving Forward
Farm to Family Naturally is now moving forward with outside sales to schools, restaurants and day cares as well as inaugurating a successful in-store CSA program in May of 2011. Full-time outside community sales person, Tim Woods, is working with many area restaurants to provide high quality local produce and meats direct from the farm.
Farm to Family is going into its third year of providing local and sustainably-grown produce and meat for the Maplewood Richmond Heights school system, in partnership with St. Louis University. SLU's Salus Center processes farm products delivered to them by Farm to Family Naturally in season. Salus then provide the frozen sauces and potato dishes created by their staff to MRH schools throughout the school year. In addition, MRH cafeteria staff order fresh local fruits and vegetables as long as the season permits. Plans are underway to extend this program to other area school systems.
