“We started growing broccoli in Florida in 1999, with a lot of trial and error,” she said, adding that the climate in Florida is much different than Maine and requires specialized growing practices and different varieties. The Florida production eventually caught on and even proliferated, in part due to the company’s experience and reputation as a quality grower.“This new strategy gave us confidence to make commitments knowing we wouldn’t fall down, or worse, have to cover big gaps at unplanned market coverage from the West,” said Smith Vighetti.
Smith Vighetti said the topic of sustainability usually revolves around farming and good agricultural practices, but with an accounting background she has come to value sustainability on the financial side of the business, too. The new strategy worked, and Smith’s Farm Florida became a stable force with predictable contracts for its season. And even more importantly, Smith had discovered a strategy that would support growth into multiple eastern states and a new array of commodity offerings.
By 2012, Smith Vighetti had transitioned from the accounting and finance side of the business to sales and business development, learning from her father Lance and relying on the growing expertise of her sister, Emily, and cousin, Zach.
“At Smith’s Farm, we are all about providing the best customer service, and the last thing we want to do is disappoint our customers by not fulfilling a commitments,” Smith Vighetti said.
She added that the long-time relationships with her clients means that there is a level of trust and transparency that benefits both parties.
“I try to be as transparent as possible with our clients,” she said. “If I know there will be a supply gap in Florida, we are communicating that to let them know we see it and are out ahead of it. In turn, they trust us to know the business and our commodity strengths. They now have access to all the benefit of the locally available program without the insanity of the risky fluctuations in weather and volumes.”
Smith Vighetti continued, “The collection of short seasons and transitions up and down the East Coast that it takes to put together year-round veg offerings makes my West Coast contemporaries’ heads spin. But Smith’s transition from seasonal summer East Coast grower to the transition-ready, on-the-move, follow-the-sun, 52 weeks of East Coast produce is evidence that it works, and Florida is where we learned how to do it.”
Photo: Tara Smith Vighetti, president of Smith’s Farm Sales, with her father, Lance Smith, a member of the company’s fifth generation, who guides Smith’s Farm with his leadership and insight.
