Coast River Business Journal
Farmer’s markets allow business
to grow
Baumann considers himself a ‘indoor farmer’,
but routinely has to make one distinction when
detailing his craft.
“I’m doing it indoors but I’m not a pot farmer,”
he joked.
Baumann’s business first gained exposure in
2017 at the Saturday Market in Ilwaco and the
Sunday Market in Astoria before spreading to
local restaurant menus.
“The first year we were establishing a name and
people were getting to know us. We did half the
year in Astoria then the other half at the Ilwaco
Market,” Baumann said.
“It was great for us, we got a lot of recognition
and the second year we started getting a lot of
private customers and the Co+op.”
The Astoria Co+op has since become
Baumann’s biggest buyer, purchasing fresh
microgreens twice weekly.
“When they moved into their new building our
business doubled with them. They are now our
biggest account and our bread and butter,” he said.
“I harvest to order every day and deliver
to the Co+op two days a week (Sunday and
Wednesday).”
Baumann estimated that the Co+op buys ‘about
75 to 100’ large salads and an equal amount of
individual microgreens each week.
“The great thing about the Co+op is the
customers are aware people when it comes to
health, food and nutrition — they know what
microgreens are,” he said.
Baumann’s next goal involves making
microgreens more readily available on major
supermarket shelves. He is hopeful the salads —
as opposed to individual microgreens — will serve
as a way to break into the bigger market chains.
Baumann believes the limited awareness about
microgreens is partially because they haven’t
become more common in bigger supermarkets,
where most people shop.
“They haven’t reached places like Fred Meyer
yet. As far as I know, the Co+op is the only place
in the world that sells microgreen salads,” he said.
Baumann believes days of traditional pre-mixed
bags of iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots could be
coming to an end with the introduction of more
microgreen mixes.
Microgreens growing using LED lights.
COVER STORY
June 2020 • 11
“People just aren’t aware of them (microgreens).
But anyone who eats a microgreen salad… that’s
all their ever going to want. I think it has potential
to grow.”
Microgreens
Microgreen salads become
‘money makers’
Baumann began his business growing about
a dozen different individual microgreens but
has since narrowed it down to for a variety of
microgreen specifically for salad mixes.
“I specialize in the salads, that’s where I make
my money. The salads are now my brand,” he said.
Baumann grows pea shoots, sunflower shoots,
Rambo radish, china rose radish, wasabi, swiss
chard, amaranth, broccoli, red acre cabbage, basil
and arugula which serve as the basis for the salads.
The adaptability of microgreens allowed the
farm to change crops to reach different markets,
Baumann explained.
“Originally the idea around the microgreen
business was restaurants, to grow them and
provide chefs with these specialty items and
maybe get them into the supermarkets,” he said.
Baumann is still embracing chefs and restaurants
as customers, but they’re no longer a focal point
of his business.
While at the farmer’s market Baumann noticed
some customers would buy individual microgreens
to mix into salads at home, so he started mixing
salads specifically for the market.
“I made the salads and ‘Bam!’ everything sold
out the first day. We started getting lines in front of
our stall. This whole business evolved like that. I
never had any of these ideas or knew it would go
in this direction when I started. But like anyone in
business, I follow the leads,” he said.
The market allowed Baumann to interact and
introduce microgreens to the public.
“As I was selling the salads at the farmer’s
markets and getting to know people, I realized
that people didn’t really know what to do with
microgreens. They didn’t understand microgreens,
maybe they had heard about them. But they didn’t
know what to do with red acre cabbage or a box
of Rambo radish. So I started making salads at the
markets. It evolved into four signature specialty
microgreen salads, each based with pea shoots:
The signature salads that Baumann now sells
includes a ‘colorful’ spicy salad, with pea shoots,
It was only a few months ago when Richard
Baumann was worried the covid-19 crisis would
smother his small business. Instead, Baumann is
experiencing unexpected growth and eyeing an
expansion fueled by an increasing demand for
his specialty microgreen salad mixes.
China rose radish, wasabi mustard and rambo
radish; a health mix salad, with Swiss chard,
amaranth, broccoli and/or red acre cabbage,
described as ‘a mild salad packed with nutrients’;
a dark opal basil salad, with opal basil, amaranth,
broccoli and/or red acre cabbage, described as ‘a
wonderful, crisp summertime salad.’
Peninsula Microgreens Farms also produces
individual microgreens including sunflower
shoots, which Baumann considers a great
introductory microgreen.
“A big seller for us also is the sunflower shoots.
People love them because they’re crunchy and
meaty. They’re what I’m trying to promote the
most when I’m talking to people. I want people
to try them because they’re such a great food and
people don’t know what they are. When they eat
them they immediately want more.”
Baumann is confident his new, nutrient-rich
salads will speak for themselves once people try
them.
“It’s original, it’s fresh and it’s what people are
looking for,” he said.
Harvest to order every day and deliver to the Astoria Co+op.
Not to be confused with sprouts
or baby greens “microgreens” is
a marketing term for the shoots
of salad vegetables picked after
their first leaves have developed.
According to the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA), the origin of
microgreens is rooted in California
in the 1980s, where they started
primarily as a flavor component
for fine dining restaurants. Since
then, the use and awareness of
microgreens has grown albeit
somewhat slowly. They are
commonly found in heath food
stores and farmer’s markets, but
remain largely unfamiliar to many.
Unlike conventional farming, where
produce is usually deliberately
spaced and grown to maturity
under sunlight, microgreens are
grown densely under ultraviolet
or LED lights and harvested
early, after about 10 to 20 days,
when only inches tall. The China
rose radish, for instance, goes
from seed to harvest in about
seven days. Conversely, the Swiss
chard can take up to 21 days. The
early harvest has health benefits
according to Baumann.
“They’re packed full of nutrients
and life force,” he said. “All the
nutrients that are required to grow
a seed into a plant, are in there.
That’s why they’re a superfood.”
Peninsula Microgreens
Farm
Richard Baumann, owner
541-274-9378
Baumann sells his produce under the Peninsula Microgreens
Farm label.