The 559 Farm Train.

“The American Dream” may mean something different to everyone, but I think we can all agree on one aspect of that dream –that everyone should have access to healthy food. Sadly, this basic human right is not a guarantee in our country.

The 559 FARMTRAIN was inspired and born out of my experience on Undercover Billionaire. The time I spent in Fresno, California changed my life. As this journey began (right as Covid hit us), I started working with small farmers in order to create a farmers’ market inside of a closed down bar business called “The Sheps Club”. Because it was an “essential business”, I knew it would be allowed to stay open during the pandemic, so I quickly pivoted from a traditional bar operation to a more essential model to avoid shutdown! All while filming Billionaire, the train was omnipresent. It was right across from The Sheps Club. I quickly found out that rail is the cheapest way to travel by far (75% less it turns out), I learned that the train did not carry fresh farmed food.

After 90 days in Fresno, I’d successfully scaled my $100 to nearly 1.8 million, I returned to my home in Fallbrook, California where I have a small farm. But I was not the same person as when I left. I looked at my farm in a new light. How lucky am I that I can just give my food away! My farm was more like a place to just show off my successful development career! What was I thinking?

Farming in our country is in a state of emergency. It’s triage! Many people think the biggest enemy to farming is an unwillingness of a large percentage of people to eat fresh farmed food (all of you?) , But rather it’s the inability to transport fresh food quickly.
The current supply chain is in direct competition with the small farmer. Produce must have cold storage that includes clean and safe handling at a reasonable price. And efficient transportation is the single largest obstacle working against farm to table. The moment I understood the disparaging difference between the cost of conventional transportation (i.e. a truck or plane or driving your produce yourself) vs putting it on a train,
was also the moment I began to conceptualize my business idea. Like all inventions most are spawned from necessity. The inventor sees a need then designs a way to fill it.

The rail industry is the largest real estate holder in the United States. This is meaningful in that I’ve spent a lifetime in real estate so I completely get the power of that!
I already knew that railroad reached rural communities across the United States. All I had to do was get the train to these communities and offload my vegetables. This seemed really simple to me. Boy was I wrong! But like all great entrepreneurs, once you get an idea you believe in, you can’t let go for a minute. It truly becomes your baby!
WELL…MEET MY BABY!…. THE 559 FARM TRAIN
– Elaine Culotti