Dan Miller, who had never seen a fish pepper before, was astonished by the thin, green-and-white striped, conical pepper. Like the fish pepper, he grew up around the Chesapeake Bay.
While studying chili peppers at the now-shuttered Five Seeds Farm in the Bel Air-Edison district, Miller learned that the seeds had been spread to Maryland's Eastern Shore by enslaved Black Americans, that they were 12 times hotter than jalapenos, and that, if grown properly, they were perfect for piquant hot sauces and savory condiments, as evidenced by Baltimore's farm-to-table restaurant Woodberry Kitchen. But Miller didn't realize how little profit could be made from growing them.
Nearly a decade later, his company, Steward, funds both small urban farms and 1,000-acre livestock operations that aim to produce unconventional crops without straining or polluting the land. The goal is to boost companies like Five Seas Farm (which closed in 2016) that use sustainable farming techniques to produce local food, because such producers are considered less competitive for USDA subsidies and sometimes bank loans.
Miller, who was working in real estate at the time, was shocked to learn that financing for Chesapeake pepper would be difficult: Five Seas Farm owner Denzel Mitchell applied for grants and pitched his crop expansion goals to banks, but no one was interested.
“They don't know what a fish pepper is.” “It's not a global commodity,” Miller said. “They don't put any value on it, they don't fund it. So that was an eye-opener for me.”
Mitchell, who now runs the Farm Alliance of Baltimore, a nonprofit that supports urban farms around Baltimore, declined to comment, but Miller said his Black Butterfly Farm could be among the next to benefit from the Steward loan program.
Spike Gjerde The owner of Woodberry Kitchen and Baltimore's only James Beard Award-winning chef has seen many local farms disappear due to a lack of funding. These businesses don't have the same opportunities as established family farms or producers who work in operations with popular commodities like wheat or cattle, he says. They have to spend a lot of money up front, and then it costs more to maintain the land in ways that keep the soil healthy and regenerative — a practice known as regenerative agriculture.
“This is a global problem,” Gerde said. “Prices are so high right now, most farms are not viable.”
Gjerde's restaurant received a loan of about $280,000 from Steward for working only with sustainable, local producers, even though he doesn't grow any produce himself. The restaurant is the only one to receive funding from Miller's company, which Gjerde said is because the restaurant has “put value back into local producers,” having paid out $25 million in total over its 17 years in business. The loan will help keep the restaurant running through the slow season and expand its event space.
Restaurants across the U.S. are beginning similar regenerative agriculture initiatives, which are expected to become a trend by 2024, according to the Sustainable Restaurant Association. This means new investments in farms that aim to reduce carbon emissions, diversify crops, and maintain healthy soils and runoff in local waterways. According to a Forbes report, these eateries are being asked to act as “anchors of change” in their respective food systems, taking the sourcing and preparation process from farmers to customers. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than half of the land in the U.S. is used for agriculture.
As of Friday, Miller's company had more than 100 projects underway to provide funding to area growers, including Fireside Farm and Our Family Farm along the Chesapeake Bay. “The lack of capital isn't just an issue for small businesses, it's for any unconventional grower. Even growers with tens of millions of dollars in capital and very low leverage can't access adequate capital,” Miller said.
Miller said the funding will allow the companies to scale up to remove the usual packers and middlemen from selling produce and prevent them from being taken advantage of by third-party distributors.
All of Woodberry Kitchen's products come from local farms. Gerde says he buys chilies from Mitchell and makes sweet-and-sour hot sauce (called snake oil in his kitchen) and specialty seasonings for rich sauces and proteins. His favorite tavern board appetizer is a mix of salami from Liberty Delight Farm in Reisterstown and cucumbers from Karma Farm in Moncton. It's an expensive endeavor; there are no Cisco trucks delivering bulk produce, and individual vendors sell directly to Gerde.
He tried to get other restaurants to join, but they said it was too expensive. Managing so many producers is a challenge, and Gjerde hopes others will take advantage of the new funding opportunities, but he understands that buying only seasonal ingredients from local producers can be limiting in the catering sector, which Woodberry Kitchen increasingly relies on as a revenue stream.
But for Gerde, the stakes are too high.
“Agriculture, when done well, improves human health. … When done poorly, it has the opposite effect,” he said. He cited pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, dramatic heat waves, and An increasingly volatile climate is reason to seriously consider funding local farms.
“What's at stake?” he said. “Everything.”
This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Sysco Corporation.
