> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Jennifer Garner's Smallest Supplier Has the Biggest Story - URL: https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/jennifer-garners-smallest-supplier-has-the-biggest-story/ - Published: 2026-11-14T17:31:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-14T17:31:00.000Z - Description: A $700 farm, a handshake deal, a forensic accountant and a retired plumber. The family story behind Jennifer Garner's organic baby food company. - Author: Luke Nicholas - Tags: Celebrity, Baby Food, Organic farming, Biodynamic, United States In 1936, [Jennifer Garner's grandparents paid $700 for 20 acres of Oklahoma farmland](https://www.hola.com/us/celebrities/20240925720265/jennifer-garner-wishes-special-man-happy-birthday/?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), using her grandfather's First World War veterans' bonus. The land came with a two-room house that had no electricity, no running water and no indoor plumbing. Ninety years later, their granddaughter is a co-founder of an organic children's food company that [floated on the US stock market in February 2026 at a US$724 million valuation](https://www.inc.com/moses-jeanfrancois/jennifer-garner-once-upon-a-farm-stock-plunged-37-percent-after-recall/91429965?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz). But the best part of the story belongs to her uncle Robert. ## The handshake farm Garner [grew up in Charleston, West Virginia](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/jennifer-garner-once-upon-a-time-and-paparazzi?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), but her mother's family farm in Locust Grove, Oklahoma, was part of her life the whole way through. She says [her mother made every bite they ate](https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/19367-once-upon-a-farm-building-a-next-generation-kid-nutrition-company?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), right down to homemade potato chips. By the time Garner stepped in, [nothing had been planted on the farm for 40 years](https://organicinsider.com/newsletter/once-upon-a-farm-erewhon-jen-garner-your-weekly-organic-insider/?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz) and relatives feared it would be sold. Buying it wasn't simple either. There was no deed, because the original purchase had apparently been done on a handshake, so Garner had to hire a forensic accountant to prove the family legally owned the land before her business manager would let her go ahead. She finally [bought the farm from Robert in 2017](https://www.thekitchn.com/jennifer-garner-family-farm-23710131?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz). ## From retired plumber to farmer Robert [had been a plumber for 40 years](https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/19367-once-upon-a-farm-building-a-next-generation-kid-nutrition-company?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), and until then the farm had mostly grown big pecan trees, with a few cows and a bunch of chickens. Garner rang him with a question: how did he feel about becoming a biodynamic organic farmer? He [had already retired](https://organicinsider.com/newsletter/once-upon-a-farm-erewhon-jen-garner-your-weekly-organic-insider/?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), but he and his wife Janet took on the farm full-time. The company brought in Jim Fullmer, who had run Demeter, the US biodynamic certifier, for 14 years, to advise on the farming. As of early 2020, everything was being grown to biodynamic standards, although the farm itself wasn't Demeter-certified. The first big crop was squash. Row 7, the organic seed company of chef Dan Barber, supplied a variety called Koginut, bred to combine the sweetness of butternut with the dense texture of kabocha. Despite a year of flooding in Oklahoma, the farm harvested a few thousand pounds of it, and it became Farmer Jen & the Giant Squash, a baby food pouch sold in early 2020 at Erewhon's five Los Angeles stores and on the company's website. Garner said seeing the crates of food at her local Erewhon made her tear up. She's honest about her own contribution, though. If you've seen her on a mower, [she says](https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/19367-once-upon-a-farm-building-a-next-generation-kid-nutrition-company?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), you'd know she's probably killed quite a bit of the profits. ## She didn't start the company Once Upon a Farm was [founded in 2015 by Cassandra Curtis and Ari Raz](https://onceuponafarmorganics.com/pages/our-story?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), after Curtis couldn't find the baby food she wanted for her daughter at her local supermarket. Garner [joined in 2017](https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/what-motivated-jennifer-garner-to-become-an-entrepreneur-in/314268?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz) as chief brand officer, alongside John Foraker, the food industry veteran who took Annie's public in 2012. Her interest went back further. She has been a Save the Children ambassador since 2008 and says she met many rural American families whose kids had no access to fresh, organic food. She also knew the problem first-hand as a working mother, and remembers [filming The Kingdom, coming home covered in fake blood and blending food for her eight-month-old daughter](https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/19367-once-upon-a-farm-building-a-next-generation-kid-nutrition-company?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz). When she found Once Upon a Farm, she said, it simply solved a problem. The company now says its products are [sold in more than 22,000 US stores](https://onceuponafarmorganics.com/pages/our-story?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz). ## The parent switch One thing Garner said in 2018 deserves more attention than it got. She told Entrepreneur that one of the most compelling findings for her was that [most consumers switch from conventional food to organic when they become a parent](https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/what-motivated-jennifer-garner-to-become-an-entrepreneur-in/314268?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz). It rings true. Before children, few people read the back of a pouch. Then you're choosing a baby's first food, and suddenly the back of the pouch is the only thing you read. Garner wanted that switch open to every family, not just the wealthiest. In 2018 she named WIC, the US government food programme for pregnant and nursing women and children under five, as her long-term goal, and by 2021 [some Once Upon a Farm products were free to eligible families through WIC in selected states](https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/19367-once-upon-a-farm-building-a-next-generation-kid-nutrition-company?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz). ## The smallest supplier The Oklahoma farm doesn't supply the whole company, not even close. In a [September 2024 birthday post for Robert](https://www.hola.com/us/celebrities/20240925720265/jennifer-garner-wishes-special-man-happy-birthday/?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), Garner wrote that he and Janet may be the smallest supplier to the company's blends, and that season's squash inspired another of her blends, Pumpkin Apple Pie. There's one gap I couldn't close. The company consulted on USDA organic certification for the farm, and [one food site says its crops are USDA certified organic](https://www.thekitchn.com/jennifer-garner-family-farm-23710131?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz), but I haven't been able to confirm that on the USDA's organic register. ## The farm that fed a family One half of this story is 22,000 stores and a stock price. The other half is 20 acres bought with a war bonus, where Garner's mother grew up poor and a retired plumber now grows squash. Garner says this is the thing that means the most to her mother: [her farm brought back to life, and growing things for babies](https://www.aol.com/jennifer-garner-hair-raising-encounter-222242413.html?ref=organicfoodtogether.nz). Ninety years after a $700 handshake, the land is feeding children again. --- ## Before you go If you want more like this in your inbox, [sign up free](https://www.organicfoodtogether.nz/#/portal/signup). 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