Chris Covelli

Chris Covelli is a certified organic vegetable farmer who started Tomato Mountain Farm in 1993 at the age of 26. He has earned his living exclusively from farming ever since. His love for the natural world and its interconnected parts contributes greatly to his farming/food growing success, and also explains why he backpacks in the mountains or travels by bicycle at every opportunity.

As Tomato Mountain moves toward profitability and away from debt, Chris finds himself in front of increasing numbers of groups interested in various aspects of food production, farming and gardening. Time and again words/topics such as organic, sustainable, green and climate change come up and are tossed around with little understanding. Because much of Chris’s professional and personal life revolve around plants and natural systems, he’s learned a lot about such topics and appreciates the opportunity to educate people from a broad perspective. Much of our societies view is based on very short term indicators and results, and a longer view is necessary to understand the full impacts of our activities on the planet.

Can a small vegetable farm be a profitable, financially sustainable, legitimate business that realizes a profit, without subsidies? Good farmers are motivated, energetic, efficient, creative, smart- both practically and intellectually, and don’t need the promise of great financial reward for their efforts. This is extremely rare. Most people give it a few to five years and throw in the towel, exhausted, never having covered expenses, far from having paid the mortgage. Creating a 10 acre farm that grosses $1 million/year, pays decent wages, and maintains a 10% profit margin, has become the story of hisprofessional/work life. He hopes to reach that goal in the next year or two. Stayed tuned to see how long it takes.