August 2017 — Ben Herndon grew up on his family’s farm in Parkton, NC, and worked there until he started college at NC State. He is now a rising junior, majoring in Poultry Science and minoring in Music. He came to the apprenticeship with substantial production experience in raising poultry, sheep, and cows, and also growing rutabaga and watermelon. Since he had only experienced the production side of the supply chain, he was interested in working with Foster-Caviness in order to learn more about produce distribution.
This summer Ben has been helping with customer service, and helping his apprenticeship mentor Jason Kampworth, Local Buyer and Sustainability Coordinator, coordinate a new workplace CSA box program for clients like Bank of America and SAS.
Ben says he has learned how stressful the produce distribution business is. “The produce distribution system is really strained because you have to cater to customers but also your [own produce] buyers,” says Ben. “You deal with farmers who have to deal with weather.
Also, dealing with farmers [is challenging sometimes because you ask] when or how much they will have this week and they say ‘I don’t know’, but you need to know,” he adds. Ben hopes to own a farm one day and he now has very specific insight into the perspective of intermediaries like Foster-Caviness, whom he may one day be selling to.
This article originally appeared in the August 2017 NC Growing Together Newsletter.