This month, we interviewed our friends at Profeta Farms in Readington, NJ, only about 60 miles from The Corner. Check out the interview below and some great photos of the local farm and its organic produce. 🙂
Q. Tell us how/when/why your farm was started.
Profeta Farms was founded in 2012 by Paul Profeta, his wife Joanne Malino, and General Manager John Place, spurred by Paul’s disappointment with the state of food (even USDA certified organic food) available. We aim to provide high-quality organic, humanely raised food to our community. Our goal is to eventually provide our customers with a source from which they can purchase all of his or her food grown organically on-site.
Q. Who are your farmers?
Paul Profeta started his career as a commercial real estate investor. More recently, he founded the Profeta Urban Investment Foundation and partnered with Rutgers Business School to help launch minority businesses in Newark.
John Place is the General Manager of Profeta Farms. John’s interest in pastured livestock began as a college student studying agriculture in New Zealand, where he learned the benefits of a pasture-based rotational grazing system, organic management, and healthy soil creation.
We also employ a number of full-time and part-time employees to keep the farm and store operating smoothly.
Q. What do you grow at the farm?
We grow many different types of vegetables, a few fruits, cattle, pigs, and chickens (for eggs as well as meat).
Q. Why did you choose to grow organic?
We firmly believe that eating organically leads to better health, and want to be able to provide the cleanest healthiest food to our community. We also believe that we should take care of our soils and waterways, not pollute them with chemicals. In fact, we hold our practice to higher standards than even the USDA organic standards, seeking to provide a superior product to our customers that has been grown the way you might hope your food has been grown.
Q. Are there any fun/ unique facts about your farm?
We are currently constructing a 22,500 square foot farm store that will offer all the products we do now, plus a bakery, butcher, prepared foods and more. This is projected to open in late 2017.