By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

WILLIAMSBURG, Ind. — So hopeful are those running the Wayne County Produce Auction for it to gain a foothold and flourish among buyers that they went ahead with a July 4 sale simply because it fell on a Wednesday.

“We had it scheduled,” said Brian Denlinger, the auction’s order buyer, “so we just let it go.” He watched about 20 potential buyers gather around a cart of freshly-picked zucchini and auctioneer John Esh at work, and observed, “I think we’ll be okay.”

“We” includes Denlinger, from Brookville, Ohio, and the mostly-Amish farmers of this Indiana community. The new auction, which operates most Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings through Oct. 19 this year, launched on May 4.

The land housing the unfinished auction office and facilities – a large, covered concrete pad surrounded by a gravel drive for parking and unloading trucks and wagons – is privately owned, said Jonas Esh, an Amish farmer who also chairs the five-man board of directors.

The business itself is owned by six farmers who formed a limited liability corporation (LLC), though Jonas Esh said there is room for other types of investors, since it is not church-based. It operates on a 10-percent fee from auction sales.

“They are here for the grower,” Denlinger said. “They’re here to help their people, keep their own people busy. Their goal is they want to keep their families on the farm.”

Jonas Esh said a group of local farmers who’d been growing for several years and seeking a market for a wider variety of produce started this auction to help local Amish – and other small farmers – each make their living on five to 10 acres. They worked for a year to set up the business and, of late, have been advertising locally and produced a brochure.

“Before that, it’s just been trying to pass the word around,” he said. “We seem to have a good bit of interest as far as growers are concerned.”

Approximately 25 growers regularly sell at the auction, which welcomes “local” contributors within a 125-mile radius, be they small gardeners or commercial producers. Denlinger said buyers are mostly non-Amish vendors who come from as far as Cincinnati, Ohio; there are about 200 participating buyers and sellers.

“I’m excited about that,” Denlinger said, adding they hope to recruit more sellers for next year. “There are several families looking ‘over the fence,’ seeing how this is going this year.”

He heard about this group of Amish organizers from his brother in Missouri, who heard about them through his local produce auction contacts. Denlinger contacted the organizers and was warmly greeted, partly because he has a vehicle and a phone to serve as their contact for interested parties.

Having grown up on a farm, Denlinger is a carpenter and operates a greenhouse. While he charges a six-percent commission over bid price to represent absent buyers at the auction, he said he’s involved to help growers because of his own background – “You can’t take the blood out of a farmer,” he said.

In early July, local corn and cucumbers were stocked in abundance. On July 3, Denlinger traveled to Fairview, Ky., to buy watermelon, tomatoes and cantaloupe for resale. He said it was the second time he’d imported from outside the sale area only to “get the market started” since those items were not ready to harvest locally. Also in stock were Michigan-grown blueberries and sweet cherries.

“If we don’t supply tomatoes, watermelon and cantaloupe the first of July, (buyers will) go somewhere else that does,” he explained.
According to Denlinger, this is only the fifth produce auction currently in Indiana, and there are fewer than 50 nationwide.

A few farmers, like Jonas Esh, have prior auction experience from Pennsylvania. Others are learning market standards, such as uniform size – for example, cucumbers are supposed to be in 24-count boxes. This is the basis on which buyers bid, explained Denlinger.

“Whereas, if he buys a half-bushel, he doesn’t know how many’s in there, he’s not going to buy them,” he said.

In addition to produce, sellers start flowers. Denlinger estimates there are 16,000 mums planted for fall sales; many pots and flats have been sold already, as well as homemade, Amish-hewn cedar planters.

While John Esh traveled from cart to cart, cajoling (“Tell a story, Sam,” he encouraged manager Samuel Miller Jr. at one point, pausing over sacks of corn) and prodding buyers (“I think you want the whole cart, don’t you?” he asked a bidder), Winchester, Ind., residents Eldon and Mary Jane Alley and brother Norman Alley watched, amused.

“It’s amazing they don’t have more people here buying,” Eldon observed. They often travel here to purchase “just whatever looks good” to share with friends, be it tomatoes, cherries, peas or flowers.

The produce is fresh and they find the auction more entertaining than even a farmers’ market. “They don’t have anything like this,” Eldon added of markets in his area, describing Williamsburg’s produce as “more better.”

Even Denlinger gets in on the action – or rather, his adolescent son, Craig, does. “He was informed not to buy today,” Denlinger jokingly warned the auctioneer at one point. “He spent enough last week.”

For John Esh, who moved to nearby New Castle, Ind., after 20 years of auctioneering in Pennsylvania a few years ago, this is an unexpected return to form to help local friends. “I told all my friends when I moved that I was quitting,” he wryly admitted.
When bringing items for sale, some producers will contribute “seconds” to a collection to help local food pantries; it is as good as what’s sold, but perhaps not as attractive to the eye. But this is little of what comes to the auction.

“When you bring it in, it sells,” Denlinger said of anything homegrown, though prices can vary even within a week. “Some days, the growers take a beating.”

The market is located at 8025 Carlos Road in Williamsburg. To learn more, call Denlinger at 937-313-3378 or leave a voice mail at 765-886-5498. An auction report can be accessed by calling 765-886-5356.