Fair Farms and Produce

Sun-kissed strawberries. Fresh sweet corn dipped in butter. Vibrant hanging flower baskets. Consumers can’t get enough of fresh-from-the-farm food and flowers. They are also hungry for knowledge, wanting to know more about where their produce comes from. Enter Fair Farms and Produce of Greenfield, Indiana. This family farm just outside the Indianapolis metro area grows a variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers they sell directly to the public.

The farming operation was started by Jim and Vicki Fair, who built the farm from the ground up after high school. Son Jake describes how the operation began. “Dad baled hay throughout high school and started on his own, growing corn, beans, and a lot of hay,” Jake says. As farmland became harder and harder to obtain in fast-growing Hancock county, growing produce became attractive to the couple as more was possible on smaller amounts of land.

“They always grew sweet corn on the edges of the field corn, and started selling the surplus at farm markets, which was a starting point,” Jake says.

Today, Jim and Vicki, along with Jake and his wife Klaryssa and one employee run the farm that grows a wide variety of products from pumpkins, u-pick strawberries, sweet corn and green beans to cantaloupe, peppers, tomatoes, flowers, and more.

The farm start plants over the winter in their greenhouses, and as the weather turns warmer it is full speed ahead outside. “We start our own vegetable plants and do some bedding plants and hanging flower baskets in the greenhouse,” says Jake who also has a full time job off the farm.

Around the first of May, farmer’s markets get rolling and you can find the family selling their produce at markets in Greenfield and Fishers on Saturdays, Fortville on Thursdays, Greenfield on Wednesday mornings and New Palestine on Tuesday nights – a very full schedule! By raising flowers in the greenhouse, they have lovely hanging baskets early which their customers eagerly look for in the spring. The Fairs raise 25 acres of sweet corn and a wide variety of other produce, providing summer favorites to shoppers at the farmer’s markets.

“We saw a real uptick of consumers at farmer’s markets during Covid, people really wanted to be healthy and know where their food comes from,” Jake says, pointing out that people also became more interested in canning and preserving their own food.

By selling directly to consumers, the Fairs can talk about their production practices. “We answer a lot of questions and tell people how we use cover crops and biological products, always working to keep our soil healthy,” Jake says.

Producing fruits, vegetables and flowers takes tight planning, especially with family members also working off the farm. “For example, we have to move all the wholesale pumpkins in September, so they are in position to be sold come October,” Jake points out. They also sell pumpkins to schools and churches for events.

Speaking of pumpkins, the Fairs have planted some “giant pumpkins” this year. “Specific genetics are key to these big pumpkins,” Jake explains, noting that this type of pumpkin could grow to 2,000 pounds in the right conditions with the right care. “You have to spoon feed them and water daily.”

Family members were 10-year 4-H members and look forward to sharing about these great pumpkins that you might see at the Indiana State Fair this summer as well as telling about all their farm-fresh products.