Bringing the market to the farm is the responsibility of the middleman in the agricultural sector. At the end of each crop the sight of middlemen traversing farms equipped with hand-held scales is commonplace. Purchasing quality produce at affordable prices is only one aspect of the middleman’s pursuits. The next phase, the re-selling of the produce, is entirely dependent on the vagaries of the market.
At 30, Quincy Shepard, implausibly, is a retired farmer. These days his attention is focused on working as a full-time middleman. Four years ago, Shepard was a medium-scale, cash-crop farmer cultivating pepper, tomato, cabbage and boulanger. After reaping, Shepard would both wholesale and retail his own vegetables. As his customer base grew, demand for produce increased and in order to satisfy that demand he began
