FARM BUSINESS PROFILE: Griffith Family Produce

October 13, 2017

This month’s agricultural business profile features Griffith Family Produce, an operation in conjunction with E. Griffith & Son. We spoke with Kayla Griffith, the primary operator of the produce business. The farm is located in Lothian and consists of more than 400 acres.

Q1: Tell me a little bit about your business and the history of its establishment.

Our family operates a 400-acre farm. My grandparents own it, my dad is the primary operator and my mom takes care of the financials. She has also helped me a lot with the produce business. In addition to the 400 acres, Dad and I work about another 400 where we lease the land within the county. We grow corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, hay (orchard grass and MaxQ fescue). We make small square bales of our straw, along with small square and round bales of hay.

Then we have our produce. The produce stand has been running forever. My great grandparents spearheaded a lot and participated in the farmers’ market. As years went by, we slowly got away from the produce due to lack of labor.

I moved back to the farm in 2015 and started a PhD at University of Maryland, but decided that wasn’t the path I wanted to take. I love growing veggies- this is my part of the farm business and my dad helps me out a lot. Right now we have about two acres of veggies. We grow a little bit of everything including sweet corn, tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, cucumbers and zucchini and squash. I have a couple things planted for fall; pumpkins and winter squash. We also sell honey produced on our farm.

Q2: Talk about some of your experiences as you set up your business.

When I moved back to the farm full-time, I knew I wanted to do produce. But I needed to figure out the scale of which to do that and how much help I would need. Dad and Pop really helped me determine how much I needed to plant.

I didn’t think I would generate as much produce as I have. Once I realized how much I would have, I signed-up for the Deale Farmers Market. I’m hoping to do more Farmers Markets next year.

Q3: What made you decide to move back to the farm?

I’ve always wanted to come back to the farm. Originally I went to Michigan to become an engineer, but I quickly learned that wasn’t for me. I studied biology since there wasn’t an agriculture program. Once I graduated, I worked on my Masters in agronomy from Iowa State. I wanted to move closer to home so I was looking for PhD programs in the mid-Atlantic when an opportunity opened up at University of Maryland. The first summer I came back, I mostly helped on the farm. That made me remember how much I loved doing produce.

Q4: Walk us through a day on the farm?

I usually get up around 5:30/6am. The first thing I do when I leave my house is set the stand up and get my produce ready. I try to pick my produce fresh for the day. On a produce day, I’ll spend most of the day in the field picking weeds and continuously pulling veggies. I also help out with the hay a lot- we grow roughly 70 acres.

Q5: What advice would you offer business owners in similar situations?

I would recommend taking an agricultural entrepreneurial class. I took a class with University of Maryland extension and it was very helpful. I’ve been farming since I was a kid but was never in charge of decision making or financials. Learning how to do those things along with marketing strategies is very important. Social media is also very useful. I have gotten a lot of business from my posts on Facebook.

Q6: What is uniquely special about doing business in Anne Arundel County? Is there a reason you choose this area for setting up your business?

I specifically farm in Anne Arundel County because this is where my family has lived. We have been farming here for over 100 years; I am a 5th generation farmer. What I do like about farming in Anne Arundel County is that we are close to a lot of farmers’ markets. Also, I enjoy participating in the rest of the farm business, something that I could not have had if I moved to another state and purchased a small plot of land. I am just as happy raking hay as I am pulling tomatoes.

Q7: Tell us about the #365farms series you are posting on Facebook?

I’ve been getting a lot of questions from my friends about what I do as a farmer, so I’ve been trying to take photos every day and upload them to Facebook. Some photos show how farms and agriculture can be beautiful and some show the work I’m doing day-to-day. I also do it to help educate people who don’t know much about farming in this region.

To view photos in Kayla’s #365farms series, click here.

To visit the farm stand’s Facebook page, click here.

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