Profound Microfarms

By Judy Truesdell

Jeff and Lee Bednar were at a crossroads in 2014. Jeff had sold his shares in a real estate company, and the couple wanted to start a new business, one that would have a profound impact on the health of their family, their community, and the environment for future generations. A genetic condition, Marfan syndrome, had caused Jeff to undergo open-heart s u rgery when he was 36. Now he and his wife were starting a family, and Jeff said he “wanted to eat healthy to be around for my girls as they grew up.”

“We watched a lot of documentaries about the environmen tal disaster that is our current industrial monoculture agriculture sy stem,” he said. That led them to the decision to start Profound Microfarms, a controlled environment farm, where they would grow a diverse ecosystem of crops using a variety of methods.

It was Jeff’s father who bicycled down the road that would lead to Profound Microfarms – Forest Grove Road in Lucas. He saw a “for sale” sign on a property with visible greenhouses in the back. Jeff and Lee discovered that the property, which had been a vibrant orchid farm, had been uninhabited for seven years, due in part to the fact that the owners wouldn’t sell to anyone who wanted to tear down the greenhouses “and put up a big house.”

The Bednars told the sellers their plans, and they were thrilled to support the new venture. In August 2014, the Bednars purchased the 2.6-acre property with its 17,000 square feet of greenhouses. Though dilapidated, they could be refur bished and would work just fine. (Jeff says the previous owners ha v e stayed in touch and are avid supporters. “It makes them happy to see the life that we have breathed into this property.”)

There was some education ahead; Lee had cooked and dabbled in the garden, but Jeff said he had never grown anything in his life.

“We watched a lot of YouTube videos; I took some classes and became a master gardener and a certified permaculture designer and traveled the country visiting other greenhouse operations,” he said. (Permaculture draws inspiration from nature to develop farming practices based on crop diversity, resilience, natural productivity, and sustainability.)

They started with a small system in one greenhouse. “We failed a lot. I killed a lot of plants on my journey to understand ing how aquaponics and hydroponics work.” (Aquaponics and h y droponics are methods of growing crops without using soil, relying on water to transport the nutrients. Hydroponics uses 95% less water than traditional farming methods.)

After three years of research and development, they were at the point that they could start exploring commercial opportunities. “Farming isn’t for the faint of heart, and the farmers we hav e met along our journey are all remarkable people,” Jeff says.

He said it has always been about the community for him and Lee. They recognized how “broken the food supply chain was” and the challenges that people face in our area related directly to the food they eat. “We see how kids have no idea what a potato is, only potato chips, and they don’t know that a chicken tender once belonged to a living animal.”

He started connecting with local food and farm community members, which led to meeting many chefs and discovering a niche market that Profound Microfarms could fill. “Chefs in quality restaurants in Dallas and Collin counties were hungry (no pun intended) for fresh, local produce and proteins, and they were incredibly frustrated that they couldn’t find consis tent, reliable products direct from local farms. So, that’s what we f ocused on most – quality and consistency.”

On site, Profound Microfarms grows 150 varieties of rare culinary herbs, microgreens (the shoots of salad vegetables picked just after the first leaves have developed), leafy greens, and edible flowers. Believing in continuing to inspire small and sustainable farmers, they hold myriad events on the farm. “We have host ed thousands of visitors, from kids on tours with their Girl and Boy Scout troops, to chef dinners, curated for the season and the occasion.”

In 2018 they launched a food hub, Profound Foods, to help local farmers, ranchers, and producers reach their market of customers. “As soon as we started the distribution company with a focus on ‘Farmers Helping Farmers,’ we very rapidly expanded. Profound Foods was supplying 130 local restaurants in Collin and Dallas counties products from over 40 other local producers when COVID hit.”

COVID hit them hard; they went from 130 wholesale restau rant customers down to only four. They realized that the only wa y to survive would be to launch a direct-to-retail-consumer home-delivery business. “Luckily there was a huge uptick in demand and interest for local food and a local supply chain that was much safer than the grocery stores or even farmers’ markets.”

They already had delivery vans and a robust online ordering website that made it easy for them to transition from a wholesale-only business to supplying both wholesale and retail customers. “We offer free home delivery in Allen, McKinney, Lucas, Fairview, and parts of Wylie, with plans to expand our home delivery in the coming weeks to other sur rounding cities.”

In addition to home delivery, they offer weekly pickup outposts in Frisco, Plano, and downtown Dallas for customers outside their delivery areas.

When the Bednars realized that many of the 150 items they grew wouldn’t sell well to retail customers, they donated and

composted nearly 90% of their crops and downsized. “We’ve been able to donate, with the help of our partner farms, over 10,000 pounds of food to local non-profits and charities to feed the food insecure in our North Texas community.”

The farm is just now hitting its stride again; they took advan tage of the months of low production to build better hydroponic systems.

The y also realized there was another opportunity created by the pandemic; retail customers asked them for products such as salad dressings, meal kits, marinades, and tips on how to cook. Seeing that many of their service industry friends were out of work, they started a third company, The Profound Kitchen with Chef Nick Walker, to produce these new value-added items for their customers. “We found a commercial kitchen and got to work.” They have recently launched 32 new products that have been getting great feedback from their many home-delivery customers.

“As hard as COVID has been on us and our community, we love knowing that we are nourishing even more of our com munity with locally and sustainably grown, nutrient-dense, and de licious f oods,” Jeff said.

To see a list of available products, discover local pickup locations, and keep an eye on home delivery areas, visit profoundmicrofarms.com. •