Grocery chain produce feature helps local farmers

Grocery chain produce feature helps local farmers

By WHITNEY HOLMES
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- For the past several years, local farmers have been battling a serious drought but they've been helped out with plenty of rain.

Farmers are also getting help from a grocery store chain.

For the next few weeks, Food City is holding its "Welcome to Freshville" events which are like a farmers' market in its parking lot.

In ‘Freshville' you'll find an array of produce from cantaloupe to zucchini to blackberries and it's all locally grown.

It's part of Food City's effort to promote local produce.

"We have the greenhouse tomatoes. They buy all of those plus the field. It's been a really consistent sale for past ten years," said R and C Farms owner Randal Pierce.

You'll find Pierce's Grainger County tomatoes on food city shelves.

The grocery chain buys half his crop and, he says, pays pretty well.

Without Food City's business, he says he'd still be farming but it would be a lot different.

In the past five or six years, Food City has strengthened its relationships with local farmers and added more local produce. John Jones, Executive Vice President of operations for the chain, says that's what the customer wants and for them to expect more local produce in the future.

"This week we will take all our produce managers in our whole company, over a hundred, into southwest Virginia and into East Tennessee and we actually do field tours where they will meet the farmers, walk the fields and learn about the products," said Jones of their efforts.

The farmers like Pierce are featured in the stores with their pictures and biographies on posters. This is so customers know who's worked in nearby fields to bring them the food on the shelves.

Customers tell us they like the idea of getting their food from East Tennessee and keeping their money in East Tennessee.

"It's great. We need more of it," said self-professed cantaloupe lover Leon Wayman.

"There is nothing like fresh vegetables right out other garden. We used to a have garden but haven't had one in several years now but we really like the fresh stuff," said Gayle Wayman.

Saturday's event was held at the Food City in Deane Hill. The next two events will run from 8am to 8pm the next two Saturdays at the Food City in Hardin Valley and then at the Food City at Cedar Bluff.