Fertile niche

Joe Hamill has come a long way since he harvested his first crop of organic produce in 2002. That year, he raised enough food to make two trips to the Yellowstone Valley Farmers’ Market in downtown Billings.

“I sold everything, but I was still many hundreds of dollars in the hole,” he said.

These days the Lavina farmer is selling his produce to restaurants and stores in Billings, Red Lodge, Big Sky, Bozeman and Livingston. He spends three days a week on the road, delivering his products and those of like-minded farmers and ranchers to an expanding circle of customers.