Conversations at farmers markets played a role in some of the newest products of Gleason Cattle Co.

Katrina Gleason recalls that customers increasingly inquired about whether the rural Shullsburg, Wis. company had beef tallow products. Beef tallow, or rendered beef fat, was not featured in their lineup of offerings, but it was gaining popularity as a skin care item.

Still, Katrina recalls being skeptical. But like any good business, Gleason Cattle Co. set out to investigate the possibility — and found positive results.

It now offers products such as tallow body butter in an array of scents and tallow lotion bars, in addition to its popular and robust slate of beef, lamb and pork products.

Those kinds of conversations are part of the appeal of local farmers markets for operations such as Gleason Cattle Co.

The markets offer a chance to directly connect with existing customers and potential ones. The events also help companies introduce new products on a smaller scale and assist small businesses in establishing a foothold in the community.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Katrina Gleason said. “Farmers markets guarantee that you have people who have the same goals as you or at least the interest,” in terms of valuing locally produced products.

That value is seen by attendees as well.

“People get to meet the people who are growing their food,” said Laura Bertjens, operations manager of Dubuque Main Street, which hosts the Dubuque Farmers Market. “They connect. They get to talk and ask questions. For some people, it’s the only place they want to buy their produce.”

Meeting people face to face

Farmers markets weren’t part of the Gleasons’ plans until their backs were against the wall.

After losing the market for their cattle unexpectedly in 2016, Katrina and her husband, Chad, had to adjust to keep their operations afloat and support their family.

They endured a tough couple of years, but by 2019, they were selling items at the Shullsburg farmers market.

“We thought we weren’t ‘people’ people,” Katrina recalled when explaining why the family originally didn’t plan to be at farmers markets. “But we found out that it was actually kind of fun to get to talk to people, with them being able to ask questions.”

Gleason Cattle Co. now is a regular vendor at the farmers markets in Platteville, Wis.; Galena, Ill.; and The Galena Territory, and the company sells at other local markets occasionally, as well. Katrina estimates that about 35% of the total farm income comes from sales at farmers markets.

Organic growth

The Dubuque Farmers’ Market served as a launching point in 2011 for the sale of the organic, grass-fed beef of O’Connell Organic Acres.

The farm, in the Bankston, Iowa, area, has been in the family for more than 150 years, and John O’Connell got it certified as organic in 2003. His son, Chris, soon focused on expanding the family’s herd and providing 100% grass-fed, organic beef.

“It was kind of a slow start,” recalled Chris O’Connell of the early days selling the beef at market. “Organic food wasn’t as popular.”

That soon changed. “It’s just grown (in popularity) every year since.”

Over the years, the operation added a variety of poultry, pork and lamb products among its large slate of offerings. In 2019, it added online purchasing options. In 2023, O’Connell Organic Acres opened a store on the farm at 20595 Asbury Road.

Still, the Dubuque farmers markets remained a constant avenue for the business to share its products with the public.

“We like getting out and talking to our customers,” Chris O’Connell said. “The patrons going to the farmers market care about things like local food. Some of them are looking for fresher options — the type of people we serve.”

Education and community connection

ReEvolution Farms urban farmstead started when Korrin and Sean Schriver bought the former athletic fields behind Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Dubuque in 2018.

Between that site and an “indoor grow space” they now have inside a former Pickle Barrel at 2418 Central Ave., the couple is making good on their goal of “educating students about our food system and careers in agriculture, along with providing local produce to the community.”

ReEvolution Farms includes commercial soil beds, student-managed beds, community garden plots, animals, microgreens grown through hydroponics and a certified processing kitchen and freeze-drying operation.

Many of their biggest customers are local restaurants, but the Dubuque winter and summer farmers markets also provide a route to grow their business.

“Winter market was definitely a large sales avenue for us,” said Korrin, who also teaches at Wahlert Catholic High School.

She noted that the business was able to offer fresh local produce even during the dead of winter.

Market-goers are often interested in the processes behind the food production, Korrin noted. The Schrivers also hear lots of nostalgic tales about people’s youthful exploits on the Holy Ghost ballfields.

“It’s all about connecting with people in the community,” Korrin said.

Customers and friends

PJ’s Poultry is among the vendors as the Platteville Farmers Market moves back outdoors this month, but the business’s future is less certain.

Perry and Jennifer Baker raise Cornish Cross chickens in small batches on a 29-acre farm east of Mineral Point, Wis. The business sells farm-fresh chicken in various quantities as well as eggs.

They originally started raising the birds in 2016 to supply to a local community supported agriculture group that served wholesale customers such as bars and restaurants. That was upended when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

In August 2020, PJ’s Poultry started selling its products at the Platteville Farmers Market.

“It was a little slower in the beginning,” Perry Baker recalled.

But relationships soon started building, and PJ’s Poultry developed an enviable reputation for quality.

As they met more people and located another processor for their birds, giving them more sales options, business picked up. In the ensuing years, they joined farmers markets in The Galena Territory and then in Mineral Point.

But the scarcity of processors to handle their chicken threatens the business’s future. Their most recent processor closed last fall with plans to reopen this spring. It has not done so yet, nor is it clear if it will.

“We’re hung in limbo,” Perry said on May 1. “We have a batch of (processed) birds coming next week, and that’s all we got (scheduled as of May 1).”

For now, Perry is focused on the connections he will renew and the new ones he will make at the farmers market.

“Some of our customers are more like friends,” he said. “It will be good to see them again.”