The Beginnings of Baker Farms

No tractor, no land, no father with the knowledge to tell him how to do it. Terry Baker, founder of Baker Farms, started at the bottom as a young man who knew that a good day's work kept you from going to bed hungry. 

Baker Farms began in 1970 with 75 acres. The workers included Terry and his wife, Dale, along with a couple of extra hands found throughout their small community in Ellenton, Georgia. Terry hadn’t come from generations of farming. After graduating from high school, he found a job with Swift & Co., a meatpacking plant. He started on the line in cattle processing and, by year three, was promoted from a plant worker to an office job doing production pay. 

Yet by 1970, the local Swift & Co. plant was going under. The company was unionized, and Terry didn’t have the seniority to choose where he went next in the company. He was presented with a decision: transfer to the plant in St. Louis, Missouri, or quit. 

He liked his home here in Georgia and decided he wouldn’t miss the meatpacking business too much. And by this time, a new idea had been forming in his mind from long days watching cattle carcasses swing from conveyor belts. 

He could farm. He had seen other people in the community do it, and they seemed to do well. And while his family didn't farm, he did have experience working on local farms each summer from the time he was ten until he graduated high school. Cropping tobacco and picking vegetables all summer long, he knew that it took hard work for a man to bring a crop up from the ground. 

“We had no money back then, but I thought they were getting pretty rich,” said Terry. “Or at least doing pretty good.”

But many of the farmers he knew were generational, with knowledge, equipment, and land passed down. Terry began at square one, purchasing a used tractor and 75 acres of land before putting his first plant in the ground.

“We were doing a little bit of everything back then,” said Terry. “Tobacco, corn, peanuts, and produce. That’s how all the farmers really looked.” 

The first few years were hard. 

Days were not just 9-5, but sunrise to sunset. Terry and Dale worked together, alongside several family members and local hired help, to plant, pick, wash, and deliver all their crops. Pregnant with their first son, Dale would be out in the fields helping with the harvest. In farming, there’s a small window to get a lot done before crops expire. In those first few years, it seemed like there needed to be more hours in the day just to get it all done.

Taking a product to market looked different back then. With many grocers being smaller and more localized, farmers could take local orders every couple of days. They would cut for that order and then run routes through town, dropping off their produce. Orders were smaller. One grocer may only order 4 dozen turnips, but every penny counted was a job well done.

Business began to change when a group of produce peddlers found Terry’s farm on their way through the area. Most heading down to Florida, these peddlers would purchase a couple of dozen vegetables at a time from the Baker’s small packing shed and take them to larger markets located in Jacksonville and Tampa. With each peddler gained, another seemed to follow, with repeat visitors several times a month. Sometimes the peddlers would take product down to these markets, and other times Terry and Dale would deliver them to the markets. 

Those days were some of the longest. They would work all day, cutting in the morning, washing, and packing for the rest of the afternoon. Then, they would leave near midnight and arrive at the markets about 4 a.m., the same time peddlers would come out to purchase produce. On those long days, they would sleep in the truck before heading home to do it all over again. 

A more local option was taking produce down to the Thomasville auction. During summertime, they’d carry squash, washed and boxed, down to this market. The auction went every day, starting at 2 p.m. and ending at 7 p.m. About five to six buyers would be there at all times, buying for what most small farmers would consider the “big whig” stores at that time. Farmers would pull trucks side-by-side at the market block, and buyers could walk up, open up boxes, and examine produce. 

Terry quickly realized the importance of a quality vegetable and a good pack. Although it could take additional time during the grading and packing process, a nice pack paid off at auction when buyers were comparing. 

Buyers knew who packed good stuff, and those farmers built up their reputation. Through their consistency, Terry was able to gain a relationship with Guaranteed Produce by the early eighties. A produce brokerage company connected to several larger-end retailers, the owner approached Terry at the auction, pleased with the consistent quality of Baker produce, and urged him to send all his produce straight to Guaranteed. 

It was at this time that the Baker Farms name started appearing on boxes. At the time, not many people were branding their items. Most items came in a white stock box because it was simple, cheap, and got the job done. Terry knew that he was packing good produce and was proud of the name behind the job. 

“We knew we were growing good stuff and we were proud of it,” said Terry on his decision to label Baker boxes. 

Their relationship with Guaranteed Produce continued to grow. With several prominent customers, the quality of produce really mattered. Terry could tell Guaranteed Produce what he would be growing that year, and Guaranteed would plan their sourcing around Baker Farms. By this time, Baker Farms was growing several items for Guaranteed, such as eggplants, bell peppers, cucumbers, squash, and cabbage. Meanwhile, Terry had also begun selling directly to Georgia Vegetable, another large produce broker out of Tifton, Georgia, and continued business with peddlers. 

Terry began to see that putting his name on the box made a difference, especially when the quality matched. Certain places began calling brokers and asking for specific Baker products.  

By the mid-eighties, business was growing, and they could see the fruits of their labor paying off. The work was still hard, but Terry’s son, Joe Baker, officially joined the business as his partner after several years of helping on the farm during Joe’s teenage years. Their help had grown to about 25, but cutting, packing, and delivering 300-500 cases a day was still a huge job. 

During certain seasons, such as zucchini, a full day meant 12-hour days. They would start picking at daylight and pick until about 5 p.m. Then everyone would take about two hours for supper before washing, packing, and delivering to Guaranteed Produce’s coolers. 

Terry and Joe knew that as the business grew, it became important for them to start keeping better records on what they grew, what they spent, and what they made. Through this process, they began to wean out items that didn't profit Baker Farms.

They recognized that greens were consistent. Back then, a box of greens may only have gone for $6 dollars a box, but it stayed $6, with little variation year after year. On the other hand, items such as squash may have risen to $15 a box some seasons, yet could drop to $5 just as easily. 

The consistency of greens attracted Terry and Joe. While they may not have profited as much as other farmers for the year, each season became less of a gamble or a hope that the prices would increase. The consistent price of greens gave them a better expectation of what each season would profit and how that could be used in the future. 

Baker Farm’s growing program began to focus more on greens, growing collards, flat mustard, curly mustard, and turnips consistently, as well as continuing with several other seasonal items. 

By the 1990s, the decision to put the Baker name on the box began to make all the difference in their business. Guaranteed Produce went under new management, and its services to customers declined. Previous customers of Guaranteed Produce started calling Baker Farms directly. The door to wholesale and retail business began to open up. 

“We weren’t year-round yet, and after each season, our customers would have to move up the map to keep buying produce,” said Terry. “To become year-round was a goal.” 

By 2000, Terry and Joe Baker Farms was a stable, successful farming operation. They had buyers who trusted their products and consistent quality to back up the promise. As one of the first in their area to adopt a H-2A program, they recruited migrant employees to assist in their growing operation. With so many years spent trying to get a crop out of the field and gain business, there was now more time to consider best practices for the future.

They added on to their packing shed operation, building wash tanks and lines. Their acreage grew with business. Slowly but surely, Terry had begun at the bottom and built a farm with opportunity. With all of Terry’s children grown, it was time for the next generation to step in and carry it forward.

By the 2010s, Baker Farms got into the bagged greens business. Seeing a push in demand for local and Georgia Grown products, the bagged products did well. They initially thought the bagged business would be easy, but realized it was a totally separate market from loose products. While loose greens could be sold in markets or even on the street, bagged products needed shelf space and a cooler. 

Like always, the question was “How to get in the door?”

“It’s hard because everybody already has somebody,” said Terry on the competitiveness of the produce industry. 

Baker Farms continues to uphold the reputation of quality that was first gained so many years ago. Today, Baker Farms employs nearly 500 people, including several family members and returning H-2A employees. As Baker Farms has grown in business, one thing has remained the same: dedication to quality, customers, and family from our field to your table.