REX OBERHELMAN: $27,000 (Net!) from Five Organic Acres

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The Plowboy Interview

Rex Oberhelman lives in the southern end of Minnesota, atop the same threefoot-deep topsoil that's made the next state down — Iowa — famous. Not surprisingly, then, Rex is surrounded by 400-, 600-, and 1,000-acre farms: big spreads that sow corn and soybeans from highway to highway. (They were farming from fencerow, to fencerow, but then to increase production even more, they pulled up the fences.) Sadly, those big farms are going out of business in a big way these days.

Five years ago, Rex Oberhelman went out of business, too. The banks called in his loans and took both his family's 120-acre farm and his own supper-club business. He was left with five acres and his house.

The loss devastated Rex and his family. He lost his faith in himself. His marriage went sour. And he turned to alcohol.

Then a remarkable — almost incredible — turnaround occurred. After undergoing therapy for his drinking problem, Rex made himself a promise. He pledged to, each and every day, forage the garbage bins of local grocery stores to find food for his rabbits. This small activity provided him with a foothold from which to start rebuilding a sense of responsibility and commitment. Soon, it provided him with much more, as well.

Oberhelman quickly became aware of just how much produce the food stores were throwing away. Sometimes entire shipments arrived spoiled and were thrown out. He got to thinking, "Why couldn't I grow that same produce locally and sell it to the stores? It'd be fresher than what they buy now, so it'd last longer. And if I let them buy only the amounts they need, they'll have less spoilage from overpurchasing."

Five years later, Rex, his new wife, Sharon, and stepdaughters, Lisa and Jodi, are earning a net profit of $27,000 a year. They sell produce to local grocery stores, restaurants, and one wholesaler . . . sell greenhouse flowers, bedding plants, hanging baskets, and vegetable starts . . . and sell on farm produce to anyone who wants to drive out and buy it. They've figured out a way to make a living farming five acres in an area where 1,000-acre farms are failing right and left.

The story could end there, but it doesn't. Rex has now created a way to share his success. He's "licensing" 50 other farmers, each to grow the same vegetable crops he does. And he's got a buyer for all that produce: a big supermarket chain in Minneapolis. What's more, if that project succeeds, his next plan will be to create more groups of truck gardeners. Who knows . . . perhaps his ideas and dedication can help save hundreds of American farms!

Last September, staffer Pat Stone flew up to Fairmont, Minnesota, and spent a day at Rex's Blue Ribbon Gardens, talking with Oberhelman, seeing his setup, and just plain admiring the man's dedication and success. When you read the following edited interview with Rex (Sharon joins in occasionally), we think you'll be as impressed as Pat was.

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