As you drive along Highway E, passing by the open pastures and farmland just northeast of Versailles, MO, you may expect to see only scattered farmhouses and barns among the crops and livestock. But on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday morning, as you approach the Higgins Road intersection, you’ll encounter something unexpected: a bustling produce auction, where a sprawling building is filled with fresh local harvests, and the parking lot is busy with trucks, vans, horses, and buggies.

This is the Central Missouri Produce Auction, an important destination for Root Cellar and other local retailers to source fresh, local, produce.  The auction began 30 years ago, founded by a group of Old Order Mennonite farmers seeking a better way to connect their produce with customers.  Inspired by similar auctions in Pennsylvania, it was the first of its kind outside of those communities.  While anyone is welcome to become a producer with the auction, a majority of growers are still from the local Mennonite community, with most of the produce grown within ten miles of the auction.  Buyers, however, come from as far as Kansas City, St. Louis, Iowa, and Arkansas.  Though smaller lots are occasionally available for retail buyers, the auction primarily caters to wholesale buyers who bid on large quantities.

John Shirk, one of the founding farmers, now manages the auction with the help of his son, Peter, and several other employees.  Over the years, the auction has grown significantly, with well over 100 producers now participating.  To accommodate this growth, the building has been expanded six times. Given the volume of bidding, two auctioneers run simultaneously to keep the process efficient and prevent the event from dragging on all day.  While the dual auctioneers can be overwhelming for first-time visitors, the quick pace is often appreciated by regulars who value the ability to conduct business swiftly and get on with their day.

Similar produce auctions have since sprung up across Missouri, such as the Amish produce auction in Clark, another regular source for Root Cellar.  Additionally, several Mennonite wholesale markets in the Rich Hill area, south of Kansas City, offer a more stable market-price and contract model, bypassing the auction process.  Together, these auctions and markets play a crucial role in bringing fresh, local Missouri produce to consumers across the state.