Better Farming – September 2016

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Better Farming September 2016 Farm News First > 23
FIELDTRIP
Landmark business represents
more than 150 years of farming
by KYLE RODRIGUEZ
Herrle’s Country Farm Market is a popular destination for Waterloo residents.
Positioned on the outskirts of
the growing city of Waterloo,
family-owned Herrle’s Country
Farm Market is one of approximately
200 farmers markets in the province,
according to advocacy group Farm-
ers’ Markets Ontario. Built adjacent
to farmland that has been in the
family for six generations, the retail
space is the base for an operation that
comprises 600 acres over five farms.
The family grows fruits and vegeta-
bles for direct market sales. Crops
include strawberries, sweet corn,
peas, beans, spinach, Swiss chard,
beets, cucumbers, zucchini, squash,
and pumpkins.
Since Ontario’s first farmers market
opened in Kingston over 200 years
ago, growers have used the venue to
directly distribute the freshest of
produce and maximize their crop
profit margins. Where it can take days
for produce to reach grocery store
shelves, farmers markets can skip the
wholesale stage and sell fresh from the
fields directly to customers, many of
whom also feel ethically empowered
by supporting local growers.
Sweet corn is a crucial product for
the business model of many such
markets. The sugars in sweet corn are
particularly sensitive to degradation
over time, and consumers have
learned to actively seek out corn that
was picked that day. BF
A flower-adorned marker stone
commemorates Peter Herrle’s 1858
purchase of a parcel of land at 1243
Erb’s Road in St. Agatha. By 1964,
Peter’s fourth generation descendant,
Howard, and Howard’s wife, Elsie,
began growing a few acres of sweet
corn behind their house and selling it
to passersby from the family garage.
The Herrle’s Country Farm Market building opened
beside the house in 1988. It has since undergone three
expansions – in 1995, 2005, and 2015 – to reach its
present size of 11,000 square feet. The market’s
operating season runs from the time the first strawber-
ries ripen in mid-June to the end of corn season on
October 31.
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