The Mt. Hermon Flower Co. dba Chicory Farm was founded in 1990 as a diversified, small-scale agricultural enterprise. Since then the Farm has successfully begun enterprises in cut flower production, edible mushroom cultivation, small ruminant dairying, dairy processing, market gardening, and wild foods collection and processing.
In 1994 and 1995, the Farm won USDA SBIR Phase I Award. These two SBIR Awards greatly enhanced the Farm's ability to create new jobs and to sustain growth. In 1995-96 the Chicory Farm Cafe, which also supports the marketing and distribution of food products, opened in New Orleans. The cafe serves food based upon local agriculture. Chicory Farm also a founding vendor and anchor for the New Orleans Green Market, which supports local small-scale agriculture as well as community gardens projects in New Orleans.
Since 1992, the Farm has created 4-5 full time jobs within the local community of Mt Hermon. These positions pay well above the local average and additionally provide significant on-the-job training in technical areas such as cheesemaking and laboratory work. At least two of these positions were initially made possible by SBIR Awards; the farm's growth has allowed retention of the jobs after the grant period. The Farm has developed innovative techniques in cheese processing, creating one cheesemaking process that involves high-temperature aging and is an excellent transferable technology for developing countries. The Farm's products are completely natural and use the simplest of available ingredients.
The Farm has also pioneered sheep dairying in the South and, with SBIR support, is endeavoring to create a new synthetic sheep breed for economical Southern Region production. This project is also spurring the clustering of local technologies through a team endeavor involving local veterinarians who ar investigating embryo transfer and artificial insemination technology in small ruminants. Such efforts will support further opportunities for small ruminant farming in the local area. The Farm has a policy of local hiring and maximum utilization of local support businesses, materials suppliers, contractors, and financial institutions. 70 percent of Chicory Farm's hirings have been minorities.
In sum, Chicory Farm is pursuing a community oriented policy of local jobs creation through helping to define the direction of future agricultural and food processing advancement in the area. The Farm is strongly committed to Louisiana as a place well situated for advancement in these areas, with a particular focus on initiating new small-scale enterprises and assisting in local economic development in rural areas.
