Eat Local-Washington Grown Pt 1

Eat Local-Washington Grown Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The Washington State Department of Agriculture is “all in” with the Eat Local First Collaborative and helping expand it to include an online tool to connect users with food produced in Washington state.

WSDA’s Hector Castro says the state is here to help broaden its capabilities …

CASTRO … “So, about a year ago, they went online with a tool called the Washington Food and Farm Finder. It’s a way for someone to just type in their zip code and they will see a map that displays local farmer’s markets, local CSA operations, and local farms that have produce stands. It’s available at the website which is www.eatlocalfirst.org.”

As for the Department of Agriculture’s role, Castro says it’s about helping producers AND our schools …

CASTRO … “What we did was to offer some support and put some money into the development into one aspect of this tool that would connect school districts and other institutions that are looking to buy locally, but in bulk.”

And as you can imagine, Castro says the schools are a little bigger consumer …

CASTRO … “They need farm and food operations that are selling at wholesale levels. And so, the new aspect of this tool is a “find a wholesale vendor.”

Tune in tomorrow for more on finding Washington-grown produce at the wholesale level for school districts around the state.

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