Meet the team at White’s Farm Market: Elizabeth, Lisa, Chip and Terri (left to right). Photo provided by White’s Farm Market
BY DEB AND TIM SMITH
If you live in this area there’s a good chance that you’ve at least driven past, if not stopped and shopped at, White’s Farm Market. It’s the one on Rt.64/Mendon Ionia Road, about 3 miles from where that road comes to a “T” at Routes 5 & 20 in Bloomfield. The farm market has been there since 1979 and the White family has been in the Mendon/Ionia/Bloomfield area since 1836.
This story was sparked when Mary Therese and Kent Friel attended an event at White’s which was a fund raiser for Farm Aid, an organization that works year-round to build a system of agriculture that values family, farmers, good food, soil and water, and strong communities. Their annual music and food festival celebrates farmers, consumers, and music coming together for change. More on this later.
The Friels felt that this was a family farm story worth sharing and connected us with Pat White Talley. We had worked with Pat previously in her capacity as West Bloomfield Town Historian since two of the hamlets we have written about extensively, namely Ionia and North Bloomfield, actually lie within the Town of West Bloomfield.
Pat’s great-great-great grandfather Walter A. White came from Dutchess County to Mendon Center with his family in 1836. In 1867, Walter’s son Oliver H. White moved the family-farming operation from Mendon to Bloomfield when he bought property there and married Euphemia Ewer.
Pat’s great grandfather Charles R. White was president of the New York Farm Bureau for many years and worked with President Herbert Hoover in that capacity. He was also a personal friend of President Franklin Roosevelt.
Pat told us, “They put a monument at the corner of Rt. 64 and County Road #39 when Charles R. White died, dedicated to him by many people he had worked with. He also travelled to many other states and gave many speeches to Farm Bureau and Agriculture groups.”
In an additional note, that generation of the White farming family had migrated west to Ionia, Michigan before returning to this area. It was Charles R. White who actually gave our local Ionia its name. The change occurred in 1898 when the U.S. Post Office required the action due to the fact that the hamlet’s previous name of Taylorsville was also the name of another larger town in New York. To alleviate mail confusion, in that era before zip codes, the post office went through the process of eliminating any double usage of identical town names. Hence Taylorsville became Ionia.
Fast forwarding to the current generation of the family, Chip White exudes strong sentiments regarding the concept of the family farm in our society. “My brother Phil and I grew up during a time when if you were born on a farm, you naturally became a farmer,” he told us. “Times have changed, and true generational family farmers are disappearing, leading to corporate farming driven by profits, unlike family farms driven by honest trade.”
As a full-service farm market, White’s Farm Market takes great pride in discussing the origins and quality of their products with their customers. They’ve been doing business with many family farms, some for over 100 years, building a trust of quality, safety, and proper handling.
Their commitment as a family farm market is to prioritize full service, ensuring they can vouch for the quality of their products. If you have any questions about the growing process, their White staff is ready to help. “My staff works hard in their endeavors,” Chip told us, “and we work with local schools and garden clubs.”
White’s Farm Market opens in May with fresh flowers, annuals, & perennials. In July, they’re known for the best sweet corn in town. They offer pumpkins & festive fall items. In winter, they make Christmas wreaths & gather trees. White’s is not just a market, it’s a destination!
Let’s now return to that Farm Aid topic we visited earlier. This year White’s Farm Market has already raised nearly $3,000 for Farm Aid. “We attended Farm Aid in Saratoga Springs in 2024 and plan to attend this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” Chip said. “We’ve been raising money for over 30 years, and it’s been great to be part of an organization that has been around for a long time, and hopefully will be around for the rest of our lives.”
Chip White has a wonderful story and personal connection with the musical legend Willie Nelson who has been passionately involved with Farm Aid since its inception. His eyes light up when he tells this story live, but since he can’t come and visit all of our readers in person, we are going to turn our platform over to him for the next few paragraphs and have Chip tell the tale in his own words.
“I started my involvement with Farm-Aid back in the mid-90s. Farm Aid is an organization created by Willie Nelson that celebrates and strengthens farmers, advocates for fair farm policies, connects farmers and eaters, and brings family farm food to everyone. In 1999, I had a backstage pass for a Willie Nelson concert. Mark Rothbaum, Willie’s manager, invited me on the bus, where Willie Nelson sat with me, and we talked for about 20 minutes. Willie made me feel like I was the most important person in the room. I realized that 40 years after Willie started Farm Aid, he is still raising money to keep agriculture education alive and to protect the ethics of agriculture.”
