#sparkchamber 120219 — Peter Riga
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? Agriculturist Peter Riga dropped by #sparkchamber today and took that up a couple notches: When the garden gives you odd-shaped produce, you distill premium spirits!
Working the land and adapting to change runs in the family. His father, Rosario Riga, worked in vegetable and fruit markets in Italy before immigrating to Canada, accepting a job working on his father-in-law’s vegetable farm. He later became produce manager at a local grocer, then returned to farming, along with Peter’s mother and two brothers, on their small ten-acre farm.
Riga Farms, still family owned and operated, now cultivates over 300 acres of leafy vegetables and various root crops. “I have been farming for over 25 years,” says Peter, “which makes me sound old. However, in the world of Ag, we start so young — usually in a part-time role — that our experience makes us look a lot older than we really are. [This is what I tell myself.]”
Founded on pillars of freshness and food safety, they have recently added a third pillar —sustainability. “Being a good steward to the soil, and farming with integrity and respect for the land has become a focal point for us."
In that spirit, pun intended, the brothers looked to solve the riddle of what to do with the millions of pounds of carrots farmed each year and destined for landfill simply because they are deemed too “ugly” by consumers who demand stereotypical carrots. A carrot — like any root — is shaped by its quest for water. Sometimes that journey takes twists and turns, resulting in all different kinds of beautiful shapes.
“At heart, I am an entrepreneur,” and those beautiful carrots are now the input for premium liquors. The brothers launched Farmhouse Spirits — craft spirits from farm to still. They offer Sight Vodka — clean and classic, with earthy notes and a creamy smooth finish — with a gin coming soon. Now, when life gives you lemons, you can put a fresh twist in your Sight martini.
Follow along on Instagram.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
Ideas come from a problem. Most of our ideas are to find a solution for an issue we are having. In the case of Sight, we simply had too many #2 carrots. These carrots had all the same attributes of a regular carrot, but the way they looked did not meet specifications.
We shifted to a more diverse product offerings because we noticed that the crop was suffering from a lack of rotation.
We started creating a computer farming program to help us fix issues we were having with traceability and accurate cost of production.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
You are only as good as your latest accomplishment. I am motivated by an honest audit of what I was able to complete at years’ end. It is a way I hold myself accountable.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
I work all the time. I try to establish a routine that can prepare me for the day. My work is dependent on the time of day. During a large part of my day, I am ensuring the day-to-day tasks are completed in good time. Ensure all my employees have all the resources and supplies they need to complete their tasks and set them up to be successful in their day. I try and carve out time for personal projects mostly at night, but I try not to do it every night. I find that if I continue to work at something all the time, I lose my creativity and passion for the project. I also tend to rush near the end if I have been spinning my tires on a problem for a really long time. By spacing the task out over time, I find I can come back to the problem with fresh insights.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
I try and lean on trusted people for feedback on things I think are done. But I’m never really done. I’m always thinking of modifications or improvements that can be made. Or if there is anything that can be done better. I love operations there is always something to work with.
