Keep It Local
Since 1939, we’ve been committed to each community, town and neighborhood we serve. We partner with other local companies, farmers and vendors to support the best the Midwest has to offer.
Supporting Local Farms Powered By Foodshed.io
Schnucks is partnering with Foodshed.io because they help solve the inefficiencies of local food distribution. They connect farmers with stores like Schnucks because they believe that local food is good food and a good economy is a local economy.
Beggs Berry World Farms
Benton, MO | Established 1987 | Foodshed.io
Cameron Beggs is a fourth generation farmer and began growing alongside his parents and grandparents as a kid. Cameron got his start growing commodity crops and watermelons with his brothers, but decided to transition solely to vegetable crops. He began his own operation in 1987 as a small farm market in Benton, Missouri on a 150-acre piece of land that Cameron's maternal grandfather purchased in 1950. He began with watermelons, cantaloupes and pumpkins.
When Cameron began raising strawberries in 1994, he decided to name his farm "Beggs Berry World". It was another ten years before he began raising sweet corn, which is now one of his biggest sellers. In the past few years, Cameron Beggs has added blueberry bushes, blackberry vines and 550 peach trees of different varieties. Cameron was one of the first growers in Missouri to grow seedless watermelons, and you can still enjoy his popular seedless and seeded varieties in Schnucks stores today!
Zimmerman's Greenhouse
Vandalia, IL | Foodshed.io
The Zimmerman family started their produce sales by taking a small wicker basket filled with vegetables and knocking on corporate doors in the St. Louis area. Before selling to big time retailers like Schnucks, the Zimmermans had to learn the ins and outs of food safety. This included adopting new farming practices, like using drip lines and mulch plastic, in order to keep produce cleaner and also conserve water. Even the Belgian horses they use for farming are inspected!
Today, the Zimmermans are proud of their long and happy relationship with Schnucks Markets. The Zimmermans grow a wide variety of produce specifically for Schnucks stores. One of their specialties are heirloom tomatoes, which pack a big local flavor and come in exciting colors like green, purple and black!
Thies Farm
St. Louis, MO | Established 1885 | Foodshed.io
The Thies family history in farming runs deep, just like their deep river valley soils. Darrell Thies continues to grow his farm since his great, great grandfather established Thies Farm in 1885. Darrell Thies has been working on the farm since he was 5 or 6 and he recalls skipping the last week of school every year to pick strawberries on the farm.
Every method and practice utilized by Thies Farm & Market aims to conserve precious natural resources. Having the farm market on-site allows them to reduce the harmful impacts of transportation and allows customers to purchase quality homegrown produce that is literally fresh from the fields. Produce is picked when ripe and available that same day. There is no need to harvest crops prematurely to prolong shelf life and no need to use preservatives, waxes or other artificial additives. The flavor difference can best be seen in their tomatoes. Since the tomato is picked and brought straight to store, the tomatoes are allowed to ripen on the vine and pack in the flavor!
Eckert's Farms
Belleville, IL | Established 1837
Schnucks partners with local farmers, like Chris Eckert, because their produce offers amazing fresh, local flavor. Peaches from Eckert's Farms are tree ripened for that “just picked” flavor. We count on Eckert’s, family-owned and operated since 1837, for the finest peaches in the Midwest!
Go-Ro Fresh
Union, IL | Established 2006
James Goebbert is the founder of Go-Ro Fresh, also known as J&J Dill. James is a 5th generation farmer and proud to keep the farming tradition going strong. Growing up, he spent many hours in the fields with his Dad and Grandpa.
In 2006, James decided to start his own business and dill was his very first crop. Today at Go-Ro Fresh, they grow over twenty different leafy greens, root crops, and fall crops. Their produce is sold locally to ensure delivery of the freshest, best quality items possible. Find their produce at your local Schnucks!
The Farmer & Co.
Strawn, IL | Established 2018 | Foodshed.io
The Farmer & Co. was founded in 2018 by farmers Denise Kilgus, Mark Schneider and Matthew Schneider. The trio had started a local, sustainable greenhouse produce farm over a decade earlier and realized that small family farms needed to work together in order to make local foods more available to consumers. Having already built a network of local farms and regional grocery store customers, they launched The Farmer & Co. to help other family farms continue to grow and successfully navigate the challenges and requirements to sell local foods in regional grocery stores. The Farmer & Co. focuses on finding and bringing amazing local foods – available in some of the finest farm-to-fork restaurants in the Midwest – to consumers through their local grocery stores. As such, we are proud to work with Foodshed, which has a similar mission and vision to increase the availability of local foods to some of the finest customers in the Midwest. Thank you in advance for your support of small local family farms!
