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.

Farmers visit Lowes/MDI Distribution Center

A couple of weeks back PMP farmers visited the distribution facility for Lowes Foods and MDI in Hickory, NC. These farmers had an opportunity to see first hand the quality of produce that Lowes and MDI require to be processed through their facility. Thanks to Lowes and MDI's gracious hospitality our farmers are better prepared to service the local market with quality,locally grown produce.

PMP Partners

To date, PMP has received financial assistance from the Golden LEAF Foundation, North Carolina Department of Agriculture (NCDA), and the Surry County Farm Bureau Board. Golden LEAF funded the recently completed up-fit to the agriculture center and awarded a second grant to PMP from its Local Foods Inititative. NCDA awarded a grant that is being utilized for equipment, supplies, and labor. The Surry County Farm Bureau Board agreed to buy PMP its initial round of equipment which includes a wash line, ice machine, and scales. Wake Forest University School of Law has provided legal services as an in-kind contribution to PMP; this assistance has been invaluable. These partners have enabled this project to continue moving forward; more funding requests are pending and those outcomes should be known in the coming weeks. Of course this project is what it is today because of the approximately 60 farmers who have agreed to market their produce through PMP.

Farmers Signing Up!

The project has begun in earnest. Our business model for year one was based on 20 local farm families signing up to sale local produce through Pilot Mountain Pride. As of this week the number of farm families signed up has exceeded 40! These are exciting times as we strive to provide locally grown produce to the region which will in turn assist in sustaining small to medium sized family farms. Buy local everyone!