By morning, participating Atlanta retail outlets can offer farm-fresh produce free of the postharvest chemicals often used on long hauls. With two SARE-funded seasons behind them, the project partners are confident the system will work. But with a year of the grant left, many challenges remain. They still need quick, low-cost ways to remove field heat from crops. Growers struggle to stagger harvests so they can have full shipments for produce buyers every week.
Quality control is a sensitive issue when inspecting the produce friends and relatives have grown.
Learning to grow new crops such as carrots, radishes and salad greens takes time. Co-op members need time, too, to develop leadership and business management skills. The farmers had none of these problems when they just sold their produce in wholesale lots at the local auction. We're challenging farmers, researchers and outreach personnel to rethink how we work together so small holders in south Georgia can successfully adopt innovative fresh vegetable systems. The growers are asked to take on new tasks, he said.