If you're concerned about the safety of your food, there's a new way to get fresh-off-the-farm produce in Horry County. It's the area's first community supported agriculture farm.
Community supported agriculture is a fancy name for crop sharing. Members of the community get fresh produce delivered to their door each week, and the farmers who produce it say it's better than you'll ever see in a supermarket.
At J & W Produce, planting season has started. Green peanuts are going in the ground this week and that's just the beginning. "We grow everything from tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, cantaloupes, watermelons, okra and a lot in between," said Richie Wheeler, J & W.
Josh Johnson and Richie Wheeler are AG business grads from Clemson who recently started a community supported agriculture, or CSA, farm near Aynor. Their customers, or members, buy a share of the season's harvest.
Johnson and Wheeler grow the vegetables, then pick whatever happens to be ripe each week and deliver baskets of them to the members' homes. The mix of produce is always changing, said Wheeler. "We try not to put any less than 6 different vegetables in the basket and no more than 3 weeks in a row of the same vegetable. That way you get a variety and as the season goes on, it evolves."
The community sharing plan guarantees a market for local farmers and promises what these men claim is better produce for customers. "Our stuff is going to be picked fresher, because it doesn't have to go from point A to point B. It's already at point A and point B," said Josh Johnson.
The J & W farm isn't organic, though Josh said they use far fewer chemicals than big commercial farms. "We only use the least amount of anything possible."
The partners said CSA farms are catching on because people are worried about the safety of their food and want accountability. "They want to be able to go back to the man that produces their food and hopefully in this area, me and Josh will be those men," Richie said.
J & W started last fall. This spring will be their second 12-week season. They have about 60 members so far, and don't want to get much bigger than about 300 because they don't want to lose that down home, country feel.
A share for a family of 4 costs $380. A share for just one person costs $180. To order or for more information, click here. (www.JWProduce.com)
The U.S.D.A. says there are about 400 community supported agriculture farms in the U.S.
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