This team of Wisconsin women farmers and bakers cooked up recipes and display ideas for farmers to sell home-baked goods with local ingredients. Left to right: Kalena Riemer (Riemer Family Farm); Dela Ends (Scotch Hill Farm, innisfree Farmstay); Anastasia Wolf-Flash (Riemer Family Farm); LindaDee Derrickson (Bluffwood Landing); Ashley Wegmueller (Bo & Olly Produce, Wegmueller Dairy Farm); Danielle Matson (Pastry chef); Lisa Kivirist (inn Serendipity Farm and B&B); and Jen Riemer (Riemer Family Farm).

PHOtOS BY JOHN D. ivANKO

ARticLE BY LiSA KiviRiSt & JOHN D. ivANKO

Launch a bakery business out of your farmstead kitchen

LindaDee Derrickson (above) shows that scones, biscotti and crackers can increase your farmers markets sales.

Kalena Riemer and Danielle Matson (above right) prepare seasonal items such as apples in nonhazardous baked goods products.

Dela Ends and Ashley Wegmueller (opposite page) make freshbaked breads, which showcase local grains and farm-raised herbs, eggs and other ingredients.

Good news: Just about every state in the country now has a cottage food law legalizing the sale of nonhazardous home-baked goods for public sale. That cooks up sweet opportunity for farmers to diversify income by selling fresh-baked goods at the farmers market, via CSA (community supported agriculture) shares or other ways direct to their community.

“A state’s cottage food law can open up easy diversification opportunities for farmers to add value-added products to their sales mix,” says Jan Joannides, executive director of Renewing the Countryside, a nonprofit that champions healthy and vibrant rural areas. “Keeping things local with farmers selling directly to their community enhances our rural economies and food system overall by providing tastier, farm-direct options for consumers. Farm-fresh-baked goods in particular offer lots of potential for expanding sales because they’re easy add-on sales and everyone loves an authentic home-baked treat.”

For farmers to truly create baked products that increase farm value, the items need to include ingredients raised on the farm. Sure, you can bring chocolate chip cookies to the market, but that doesn’t help support the items you are raising in the field. Zucchini or pumpkin muffins that use what you have in seasonal abundance? That’s a farm-fresh product unique to your farm. Read on for more on cottage food business basics and how to create successful farmstead bakery products for sale.