“Local” is the name of the game for Aggie-owned and founded Earth Galley Farms, an organic food distributor that works with local farmers and ranchers to provide the Bryan-College Station area with access to fresh and locally sourced produce, meats, salsas, eggs and more.
Started by three Aggies, Earth Galley Farms works to not only educate and inform the public about the importance of eating locally sourced food, but also provide the community with avenues for doing so. With more than a dozen local partners, Earth Galley works collectively with local farmers, ranchers, egg producers and others in and out of the Bryan Farmers Market, to bring people budget friendly and accessible opportunities to eat healthier. As a food retailer, Earth Galley packages and delivers produce and meat to people’s homes right from the farms and ranches, eliminating the middlemen of industrial food production.
Although a lot of the food used in Earth Galley’s grocery bundles comes from outside Earth Galley Farms, Earth Galley also grows produce on site, utilizing various organically sustainable methods, such as greenhouses and aquaponics. Aquaponics, a way to sustainably grow organic food, utilizes fish to generate nutrients for plants growing on top of the water. Sharon Wells, a co-owner of Earth Galley Farms and Class of 1987, explained the importance of eating local organic food.
“Food’s nutrients start leaving it as soon as you buy it, so if you buy locally, all of the nutrients are still really well packed into the produce,” Wells said. “We want to encourage the local communities to eat healthier so they’ll feel better. It does make a difference what you choose to put into your body.”
Earth Galley provides fresh produce by decreasing the gap between when and where the farmer harvests the produce and when the consumer sees it. With today’s industrial agriculture system, people rarely have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with where their food is coming from and how it’s produced, said Ben Howard, employee of Earth Galley Farms.
“With our company, customers can come out and see what’s going to be their food in a few weeks, growing in the ground here,” Howard said. “That’s why the local aspect is so important — if you buy an ear of corn from us, you know it came from right outside.”
Although the company is currently fulfilling upward of 100 orders each week, Earth Galley Farms still relies on decreasing the gap between producer and consumer in order to benefit local farmers and ranchers as well as the community. Co-owner Kenny Closs, Class of 2015, said choosing to buy local over industrially produced food helps the community out.
“We’re trying to cut out the middleman stuff to help farmers keep doing what they’re doing,” Closs said. “For example, by the time [industrial food producers] have harvested [lettuce] and it’s gone from their facilities to the distributor to the whole-sellers to the grocery store to the restaurant and then finally to your plate, it’s been a couple weeks before you have it. With our product, we’re harvesting right now to deliver tomorrow. It’s extremely fresh.”
As a mobile farm market, Earth Galley Farms aims to bridge the gap between the community and its food’s origins. Their home delivery service allows singles and families to select packages of fresh produce and other items that will be delivered directly to their front door.
“I want Earth Galley to grow within the community and expose everybody to the great food you can find in your backyard,” Closs said. “There really are a lot of interesting people that are a part of this farmer’s market community who I think consumers would be happy knowing grow their food. So we’re here and we deliver in order to connect people to where they’re getting their food.”
