When you think of pizza, you probably focus on the tastes of big cities: New York’s big, floppy, foldable slices, Chicago’s inch-thick cheesy, saucy wonder, or even St Louis’ cracker-thin crust with a gummy blend of provolone and mozzarella cheese on top. But, there’s a growing trend of rural-based pizza facilities, called “Pizza Farms,” that are going to make you want to take a road trip out into the country.
Pizza Farms are just what they sound like: farms that make pizza!
These magical farms are popping up across the country, but are particularly popular in America’s heartland.
In Springfield, MO (about an hour southwest of St Louis), Millsap Farms hosts a weekly Pizza Club from May through October.
“Our delicious wood-fired pizzas are cooked in our handmade New Mexico style Horno wood-fired earthen oven at ~800 degrees taking less than 2 minutes to cook… Each week we harvest our seasonal fresh organically raised produce and create different kinds of pizzas that also feature other local meats, cheeses, sauces and vegetables.”
It’s pretty common for pizza farms to allow guests to stroll through their fields, assuming visitors treat plants, animals, and the facilities with respect and care.
It’s not a complete free-for-all at the pizza farms, though; Wisconsin’s AtoZ Produce and Bakery warns “This is a farm: assume all fences are electric.”
You’ll find that electric fences aren’t the only technology you’ll find at a pizza farm.
Heritage Prairie Farm outside of Chicago can only fit four pizzas in their oven at a time, so there can take quite a while for your ‘za to come out of the oven. The farm makes the wait a little easier to bear by letting you know when your pie is ready:
“Shortly after order and payment have been received, you will be sent a confirmation text of your order. Another text will be sent to you when your wood fired pizzas are ready for pick-up!”
Another common pizza farm trend is that pizzaheads are encouraged to bring their own chairs and picnic blankets — remember, these are farms, not restaurants — most of these facilities aren’t equipped to seat dozens of guests.
Almost all of these pizza farm pizza nights begin in the late afternoon and end by nine p.m. or so, meaning that you have a great shot at seeing a scenic sunset while feasting on your favorite food.
Some facilities provide free live music and most aren’t traditionally licensed facilities, so they encourage guests to bring their own beverages—even adult ones!
Pizza farms aren’t only found in the Midwest. California is sometimes described as “the salad bowl of the world,” and many salad ingredients also taste great with dough, sauce, and cheese.
Cobb Ranch, just north of Fresno, CA, specializes in school field trips: “Each class plants their own ‘mini pizza farm,’ which students take back to school as an on-going lesson in farming.”
For a “living” list of Midwestern pizza farms, visit the