Strong Roots Grow A Family Business

Rinehart's Family Farm has a Passion for Produce

By Ann Thelen | Photos by Joseph L. Murphy

There are a lot of similarities between growing food and raising a family. Both take strong roots, nurturing and tender loving care. Greg and Polly Rinehart, farmers who live between Boone and Ogden and parents of 10 children, have seamlessly united their dual roles to thrive.

Beyond being traditional soybean and corn farmers, the family also operates Rinehart’s Family Farm and grows 40 different vegetables and fruits. Iowans who have visited the Des Moines’ Downtown Farmers’ Market or Boone Farmers’ Market are likely to have enjoyed the fruits of the Rinehart family’s labor.

GOING FROM FARM TO MARKET

Typically, for 28 consecutive Saturdays a year at the Des Moines’ Downtown Famers’ Market, the Rinehart’s canopied tents are filled with three generations of family members.

This year, the family temporarily shifted their sales to a drive-thru market on the farm. No matter the location, the market stand is a family affair. From the couple’s eight daughters and two sons – and sons-in-law and daughters-in-law – to two dozen grandchildren, the entire family has played a role in the operation.

“All of our children have been instrumental in this business, which we started 35 years ago,” Greg says. “Over the years, there has been a lot of hard work and sacrifice by the kids, but they’ve enjoyed playing a role in bringing this dream to fruition.

“Plus, it helped put them all through college,” he says. As an Iowa State University graduate (’74, Animal Science), it’s no coincidence that the farm’s branding boasts Cyclone colors. “We’re big Cyclone fans around here.”

When visiting their Fifth and Court farmers’ market spot near Des Moines’ historic courthouse, consumers are greeted by Greg’s jovial smile and Polly's welcoming voice. The exuberance and giggles of grandkids, abounding with endless energy, set the stage for an experience marketgoers flock to, week after week.

Family members help patrons during a drive-thru market.

Family members help patrons during a drive-thru market.

Polly Rinehart greets patrons at their drive-thru market. Donning cherry red T-shirts with the golden yellow Rinehart’s Family Farm logo anchored in an array of vegetables, it’s easy to spot the iconic family.

“We sell on all four sides of our space, so it takes at least 10 people to run our operation on every market Saturday,” Polly says. “We’re up by 4 a.m. to load everything and arrive in Downtown Des Moines by 6 a.m.”

At least five of those workers – most of which are family – are cooking the family’s signature, farm-fresh breakfast sandwiches. Aptly called Tons of Yum, Lots of Yum and Loads of Yum, the sandwiches live up to their names. The ingredients are flavors of the farm with fresh asparagus, tomatoes, basil and zucchini, thick-cut bacon, cheese and an egg souffle enveloped between tender home-baked focaccia bread.

A “SWEET CORN” BEGINNING

As successful as the family’s produce business has been, the couple didn’t originally set out on this path. Greg mostly grew up in Chicago, where his dad worked as a chemist, until his parents eventually moved back to Iowa to farm. Nestled in the beautiful Des Moines River Valley, the property has been a family farm since 1885. After Greg graduated from college, he worked full-time on the family’s century farm, following in the footsteps of his parents and grandparents who once farmed this precious land.

For more than a decade, the farm was typical of many others found in Iowa – barns filled with pigs and long rows of soybeans and corn. Then the farm crisis of the 1980s hit, and the couple knew they needed supplemental income to stay on the farm and mitigate the price volatility of crops. Instead of seeking off-farm employment, Polly and Greg decided to diversify their sweet corn and produce business. As a growing family, they were accustomed to growing their own fruits and vegetables.

“Our sweet corn was popular, and it gave us the idea to convert some of our row crop acres to produce gardens,” Greg explains. “We started out selling fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets in Boone, Ames and Des Moines. As the Des Moines market became more vibrant, we focused more heavily on it, and sweet corn is still a star of the business.”

Ranked as one of the top farmers’ markets in the country, the Des Moines’ Downtown Farmers’ Market had humble beginnings. In 1976, with just 15 vendors and an average of 200 shoppers, the market was operated July through September. Today, it supports nearly 300 vendors and an average of 25,000 visitors each Saturday from May through October and more than 100 vendors at the Winter Market in November and December. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the market adapted with virtual and socially distanced solutions for the 2020 season.

The market provides a relaxed environment for consumers to understand how their food is raised and to ask questions.

GROWING FOR BIRDS EYE

Today, 100 acres of the Rinehart’s farm are filled with fruits and vegetables and 700 acres are devoted to soybeans and corn. As part of their operation, the family grows sweet peas for Birds Eye ® . Founded by Clarence Birdseye, the Minnesotabased company changed the way America eats vegetables, by inventing frozen foods, as found in supermarkets today.

“We can grow early production peas in Iowa before the company starts its pea picking in Minnesota. The company sends its own crew and equipment to harvest the crop,” Greg explains.

The Rineharts grow 40 different vegetables and fruits, including watermelon. The family grows and harvests sweet peas for Birds Eye®.

Farmers who grow for Birds Eye are committed to exceptionally high-quality standards. Once harvested and immediately transported, the peas are flashfrozen by Birds Eye. Their cell walls are not damaged, so the frozen peas are nearly identical to fresh in nutrition and taste. Flavor, texture and color are all preserved.

SUSTAINABILITY FOR GENERATIONS

A farm like the Rineharts, which has been in this same family for 135 years, is unequivocally rooted in sustainability.

Over the years, Iowa State University’s Department of Horticulture has conducted various trials on the farm to determine the benefits of the cover crops. Like many farmers, the Rineharts use cover crops, such as cereal rye, to keep a cover on farmland between harvest and planting seasons. Grown in between rows of soybeans and corn, these small plants have big benefits for soil fertility and conservation.

On the vegetable side of growing food, two 30-foot by 96-foot high tunnels are used for raising tomatoes. Because too much rain or heat can cause disease on the vegetables, the high tunnels provide some protection from the elements. Still grown right into the soil, plastic is layered on the plants for a bottom layer of protection, and the tunnels provide the top layer of coverage. With their success in this growing technique, Greg occasionally teaches Iowa State University Extension classes on high tunnels.

Elisabeth (Rinehart) Ellis harvests tomatoes in one of the family's greenhouses.

As Greg and Polly begin to slowly step away from the crop side of farming, their son Daniel will take over as the next generation to farm the land.

The Rineharts are always eager to share their passion for agriculture with others. Recently, a student from Valley High School in West Des Moines worked with the family on farmers’ market weekends. As a result of his experience, the student wrote an article for The Des Moines Register.

He wrote, “Although the Rinehart’s stand was perfectly functional without me, the fact that they still took me on for that summer and let me into their tight-knit family speaks to a genuine level of acceptance and warmth that a tradition of farming – but more important, a tradition of family – can provide."

Family and farming – two words that are synonymous with the Rineharts. It is a legacy that will continue to thrive with tender loving care for generations to come.

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