Keith Riney is proud to continue offering fresh produce to the community with the same quality Riney Farms Produce customers have come to know and expect for the past four decades.
“I’ve spent 40 years in produce,” he said. “We started selling extra garden items after giving so much away. We still had quite a bit left and hated to see it ruin, so we took it to the farmer’s market and local groceries.”
For many years, Riney grew for Daviess County Growers Co-op.
“I also grew potatoes for Charles Chips back in 1983 and I dug some of those potatoes by hand and sold them to a produce company in Louisville,” Riney said.
Today, Riney is well-known for their presence at the Owensboro Regionals Farmer’s Market each week.
What many people don’t realize is Riney Farms Produce is open seven days a week through a produce stand at their farm in West Louisville.
“Even if someone misses us at the farmer’s market, they can still get the same produce from our stand,” Riney said. “We operate under the honor system,”
While Riney acknowledges they are well-known for their tomatoes — often hearing customers say they offer the best in the county — he said they grow much more.
Offerings include more than 20 homegrown products such as several varieties of tomatoes, sweet onions, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, banana peppers, green beans, potatoes, squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, cabbage, green beans, cantaloupe, pumpkins, strawberries and sweet corn.
“Our season runs from February to November,” Riney said.
He said they also sold to local restaurants, but that slowed during the pandemic when capacity was restricted.
What didn’t slow for the family business during the last year was the demand for fresh fruits and vegetables, making their farm stand and presence at the farmer’s market more valuable than ever.
“People appreciate home-grown produce more than before, often stopping at our stand instead of the grocery store,” Riney said. “I have always loved planting and growing, and watching it produce things for people to eat. It is something you can see happening before your eyes and take pride in a job well done.”
Riney is grateful for the loyal customers.
“My favorite part is watching it all grow and seeing the end result — people enjoying the fruits of your labor,” he said. “I also enjoy meeting many people and the conversations we have, and the friends we make at the market, the restaurants or the farm stand.”
Riney Farms Produce is available at the Owensboro Regional Farmer’s Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon and Thursdays from 4-7 p.m.
