Doudlah Farms — Warehouse & Infrastructure Planning

Overview

Rapid Amazon growth (reaching $136k/month in January 2026) has outpaced Doudlah Farms' current infrastructure. Packing and staging operations are running out of a two-car garage (~1,500 sq ft), which is at capacity. A new 8,000 sq ft building is planned but delayed until June due to financing. The immediate solution is renting space at the existing Edgerton warehouse while phasing construction of the new building to prioritize the packing area first.

This situation is directly tied to the broader ^[1] operational challenges discussed in the February 2026 strategy session, including the ^[2] and the ^[3].

Current State

The garage is at capacity for both packing and staged inventory. The team is currently operating a "pack-to-ship" model — packing product only when an order is placed — which creates bottlenecks and leaves no buffer inventory. The goal is to shift to a "pack-for-inventory" model with a 2–3 month packed buffer, so shipments can be pulled from ready stock rather than packed on demand.

Infrastructure Priorities

Priority 1 — Edgerton Warehouse (Immediate)

Rent space within the existing Edgerton warehouse where Doudlah Farms already stores bulk grain (dock doors 19 and 20).

• Target: 40–60 pallet positions for staging packed product
• Requirements: Dock access, dedicated packing area, minimal power needs
• Status: Jason to scout available space and confirm a Friday walkthrough with Eric (warehouse manager); Mark Hope to attend
• Caveat: A second company has recently rented half the Edgerton warehouse, so available space needs to be confirmed

"What if we put a machine here and we get 40 or 50 or 60 pallet positions where we can kind of stage product and then use your loading dock." — Mark Hope

Priority 2 — New Building, Packing Area First

The planned 8,000 sq ft building should be phased so the packing/fulfillment section is operational first, ahead of the warehouse and seed cleaning areas.

• Rationale: Packing is the immediate bottleneck; warehouse and seed cleaning can follow
• Estimated availability: June 2026 at earliest
• Phasing order proposed:
  1. Packing/fulfillment area (Jason's operational zone, loading dock)
  2. Warehouse/storage
  3. Seed cleaning

"Make sure Jason's area is up and running to package and to fill orders." — Mark Doudlah

Interim Option — Shipping Containers

Placing containers at the farm was mentioned as a fallback if Edgerton space is unavailable, though this was not the preferred path.

Pack-for-Inventory Model

The strategic shift from reactive packing to proactive inventory building requires:

1. Dedicated daily packing (5–7 days/week) rather than packing in response to shipment orders
2. Packed inventory held on-site (at Edgerton or new building) ready to pull and label when Karly generates a shipment
3. Pallet organization that allows box labels to be applied without fully breaking down pallets where possible
4. Packaging materials procurement system to prevent running out of bags, boxes, or labels

At current velocity (~$136k/month, ~$6,100 peak daily sales), the operation needs to be treating packing as a continuous production function, not a fulfillment task.

Key Constraints

• Labor: Jason is the primary packer; a part-time neighbor works ~4 days/week for 3–4 hours. Field season will significantly reduce Jason's availability starting spring 2026.
• Financing delay: The new building's concrete pour slipped from year-end 2025 to late March 2026, pushing the operational date to ~June.
• Amazon shipping split: Current shipments are broken into 10+ smaller orders to save on freight (e.g., $4k vs. $8k). This is labor-intensive but necessary and requires adequate staging space to manage multiple simultaneous shipments.
• AWD rejected: Amazon Warehousing & Distribution was trialed but abandoned after inventory delays, incorrect expiration flags, and holiday capacity lockouts. Not being reconsidered at this time.

Action Items

Related

• ^[4]
• ^[5]
• ^[6]
• ^[7]