Richardson Farms, Baltimore, Maryland
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The Richardson Farms Story
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The Richardson Farms Story

On May 8, 2007 we stopped producing broiler chickens.  This was a big change for us with the history of poultry production on our farm.  Our chicken infrastructure was circa 1920 and a major investment of money was needed to keep it viable. We did plan to do that, but then we were also being regulated the same as a huge poultry plant by USDA.  We decided we could invest in new chicken facilities, but we would always have to deal with USDA and chose to invest in retail and vegetable production, the things we love. With over one year behind us it has turned out to be a great business decision. Costs of inputs to grow chickens small scale have greatly increased, and it was not profitable before that. The difference in our poultry has always been that it is hand cut and displayed on ice, plus it is scrutinized by people who know chicken processing, these factors are the same if we grow the chicken or not.

In the 1990's we built greenhouses to grow quality transplants for our vegetable farm rather then shipping them in and it grew to full scale flower production in a matter of years.

 

 

 

 

Now we offer great plants and hanging baskets in our garden center

 

 

 

Our biggest undertaking ever was the construction of our 10,000 square foot produce packing facility.  It put all the operations of our farm under one roof.

 

Shipping and receiving docks, dry storage racks, refrigerated storage, produce packing and icing line, 10 ton per day ice production and handling. This makes life easier on everyone, but more importantly provides a better packing and storage area for produce.

This building easily allowed our wholesale operation to enter the modern guidelines for produce handling safety, GAPS.

The future holds an even bigger project, the construction of our new retail store in White Marsh.  It is no surprise to shoppers that we are out of space.  The project is now 7 years in the making and time has made the project better. The field on the east side of our current retail store will be the new home of our store.  It is 2 acres and provides room for a store with carts and isles, a permanent greenhouse, and of course a paved parking lot.  Our customers deserve it and we will deliver in 2010 some time. 

The produce packing facility was conceived after the idea for the new store, but true to our conservative management and bias toward having an infrastructure in place made its construction a priority.  Most customers thought it was our new store, but not so fast. This infrastructure first philosophy has given us the farmland we need and the equipment to efficiently produce a top quality product.
At Richardson Farms, we have preserved our past because we have a long future.
Total remodel of our 200 + year old stone bank barn in Glenarm.

Total remodel of our hand honed timer farm barn in White Marsh.  The new siding is Cyprus off of the roofs of our 1940 era chicken houses that we razed to make room for our new retail store.