PMP and Lowes Foods

Today, a limited amount of PMP produce was available at Lowes Foods stores in Winston-Salem (Robinhood Road), Mount Airy, and King. At the Winston-Salem store the produce was available at noon today with much of it being sold by late afternoon; a great start for this program. Next week PMP produce will available on a wider scale at many of the stores in the greater Winston-Salem area.

Also today, Dick McKellogg, VP at Lowes Foods, visited the farms of a number of farmers participating with PMP. Mr. McKellogg discussed the expectations that his company has in regards to quality while farmers showed off their produce crops. All in all the visits went very well. Be sure to look for PMP produce at Lowes Foods.

Young Farmers

One of the goals of PMP was to encourage more young people to consider agriculture and growing produce as a possible career opportunity. Agriculture represents 25% of our local economy and 20% of the local workforce. However, in our area the average age of a local farmer is 60 and the average value of land and equipment on a medium sized farm is $650,000. With farmers starting to age out and with the value of equipment and land very high it is near impossible for a young person to gain access to the necessary capital to start growing produce. PMP offers a solution for young farmers by allowing them to start on a small scale with as little as a quarter acre. With PMP marketing the produce as well as providing equipment for washing, grading, and storage, the need for capital is greatly reduced. A few young people are growing a number of varieties of produce on limited acreage to gain experience and knowledge. Growing on such a small scale would not be possible in the existing market place because produce brokers will only deal with large scale operations. With the money they earn from selling their produce to PMP, over time they can gain access to more land and equipment and grow their operation. Finally, with 20% of the workforce in our area dependent on local farms for jobs, and with the average age of the farmers themselves at 60, it is imperative to get more young people involved and aware of local agricultural opportunities.

PMP in the Mount Airy News

The Mount Airy News ran a story on PMP last week. Check it out by clicking here.