Review of On-farm dinners another way to showcase produce

Review of On-farm dinners another way to showcase produce

In the article “On-farm dinners another way to showcase produce” which appeared in Vegetable Growers News (Vol 51, Issue 6, June 2017), Ana Olivera explains a new way to sell vegetables to consumers by organizing on-farm dinners and she cited the example of Gritt's farm located in The Buffalo, West Virginia.

           

Ana mentioned the coordinated work of Brad Gritt, General manager of Gritt’s Farm, Lindsey Good, event coordinator and Stephen Owens, Gritt’s farm chef. They started last year holding three dinners, one per month in June, July, and August. The idea born after the farm had bought an outdoor pavilion and a concession trailer for fall activities. The dinner which cost $60 includes four meals made with vegetables and fruits of the farm as well as a bag to pick your own peaches. The focus of these dinners is to bring quality to the customers. They will eat a fresh vegetable that was never stayed in a refrigerator and cooked in a special way that enhances its flavor. They planned to use the “wow!” factor to give to the dinner guest a unique experience. In addition, they use different vegetables according to the season ensuring a once in a lifetime dinner for the customers. Finally, these articles give you 4 tips to start a Farm dinner.

            

This article shows an example of selling fresh vegetables in a new way that also improve the relationship with the vegetable producer and the final costumers. I related this article with the reality of my country. In Peru usually, the vegetable producers are far away from the markets and the majority use intermediaries to sell their products, and retailers keep most of the profits from vegetable sells. In addition, Peru has a gastronomy boom but vegetable producers are not having benefits from the restaurant profits, again chefs and intermediaries keep most of the incomes. A good way increases the revenue of vegetable producers would be this idea of on-farm dinners. Join both vegetable producers and cooks in an interdisciplinary work to generate profits together could help also to connect consumers with vegetable producers. Customers could know more about a farm life and value more the products they are eating. Whit this kind of initiative vegetable producers can sell their products directly and have more incomes to improve their farms, as well as customers, can eat quality vegetables.

            

To sum up, this kind of initiative seems to be a good alternative for vegetable producers because it could motivate vegetable producers to grow a diversity of vegetables and improve their installations. They also can have a better price for their products as well as have a direct contact with the final customers. However, it involves an interdisciplinary work with chefs and event organizers.