From Featherstone Farm to CPW

Rhys Williams

In March, Co-op Partners Warehouse (CPW) welcomed a new staff member, Produce Buyer Rhys Williams. Rhys is hardly a stranger, however, as he sold produce to CPW from Featherstone Farm for nine years.

Rhys has extensive experience as a grower, all of it hands-on learning. He got his start in agriculture through Peace Corps connections. When fellow volunteers wed on an apple orchard in the Northwest, Rhys and his wife went for the wedding, and stayed for four years. After nine years at both conventional and organic fruit orchards in Washington State and British Columbia, he became a manager and a partner in an orchard in upstate New York. Family roots eventually brought Rhys back to the Midwest, where he and his wife moved to the land co-op that includes Featherstone Farm.

"The Wedge and CPW were Featherstone's biggest supporters," Rhys said. The farm's first sale outside of the Winona area was to CPW and the Wedge. Featherstone provides heirloom tomatoes, broccoli, greens and other crops to the local co-ops.

And with CPW and the Wedge's reputation as good as it is, Rhys remarked, if you have to leave farming, where else are you going to go?

"Ask any of the growers. The Wedge has always been most supportive of the local growers," he stated firmly.

For example, Produce Manager Dean Schladweiler will help new growers figure out how to set prices. New growers can under-price the market and sell themselves short. Dean helps them figure out what they need to charge to stay in business. This is unheard of, in all Rhys' years of experience. Now, as a part of the CPW crew, Rhys can put his farm expertise to work helping other producers come to market and get fair prices that support them and their families.