Duda’s Farm scaling back operations
Duda’s Farm, a family farm in Brownsville known for its roadside produce stands in Fayette and Washington counties and West Virginia, announced last week its plans to scale back operations.
The farm, which has operated for five decades and filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2023, has battled financial challenges brought on by several factors, including operating costs, drought, damage from animals – deer, groundhogs, raccoons, crows, and other birds – and a shortage of workers.
Mark Duda, who operates the farm with his brother, Andrew, said Monday that the summer drought – one of the the worst he’s experienced – and deer devastated their crops.
“We’ve been struggling for quite a few years, but this year’s drought was one of the worst we’ve ever been through, and the deer have decimated the food supply. They’re eating more and more crops,” said Duda. “I really am worried about growing food in our area.”
He said a cost analysis completed two years ago placed losses from animal damage at $650,000.
“And it’s going to be significantly more this year because that’s not including the drought,” Duda said.
He emphasized that the farm is not closing, and he and his brother are taking measures to try to remain open.
Duda’s Farm, which operated eight roadside markets in Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia in 2024, plans to keep the Uniontown roadside market and main farm market open until the end of November and to reopen those locations in 2025.
Duda was especially disappointed to close the market it operated near Washington Crown Center in North Franklin Township, but said operating the farm stands has become too cost-prohibitive.
In a Facebook post, Duda’s Farm wrote, “It’s sad to see such a large operation have to scale back so significantly. Duda’s Farm has been the first job for many high schoolers in the area. We’ve also hired many hardworking retired people who have tried to help us succeed. We’ve donated to, sponsored, and supported many community activities and events in our community,” the post continued. “The truth is we have sacrificed way too much in order to keep the farm operating in the same manner. The time lost to our families to work 16 hour days from March through October wasn’t worth the income that we made or reinvested. The money that we made can’t keep up with the operating costs of the farm’s bills. The stress and disparity that this last season brought really has left us no option but to drastically scale back.”
Duda’s aims to continue to operate its “agritainment” activities, such as pumpkin-picking hayrides, haunted hayrides, corn mazes, and other seasonal events.
“We want to keep doing those events and give people a reason to come to the farm,” said Duda. “We’ve had a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to keep things going. I don’t think the general public has any idea of what it costs to produce crops. We’ll see how things go next year.”
In order to help its financial situation, Duda’s plans to sell some land and mineral rights under the farm, and has asked anyone interested to contact them at 724-246-7601.