Buy-Low Foods Can Help Farmers

Getting produce and products into stores can be a challenge for small-scale farmers. Lillooet Buy-Low Foods might be able to help! Store Manager Bob Sheridan says Buy-Low is not only capable of offering a lending hand, but happy to do so, and hoping more farmers will take advantage of the opportunity. Buy-Low Foods can distribute locally grown produce to other affiliated stores. If you bring one crate of tomatoes, it’s likely Buy-Low will be able to sell the tomatoes right here in the Lillooet store, but if you bring dozens of crates, than they can be sent out to stores in the Lower Mainland. Prices are determined using a pricing system that allows Buy Low to see what other farmers in BC are getting for comparable produce. In the recent past, Amlec Organic packaged garlic they’d purchased from two local farmers into mesh bags containing three heads each. Lillooet Buy-Low Foods then bought the packaged garlic from Amlec. This is an example of growers coming together to collectively market their produce. Sheridan said the product was popular and encourages others to follow suit. Proper packaging is a key part to taking advantage of this opportunity. “Produce needs to be packed into clean boxes of consistent dimensions”, Sheridan said. Small-scale farmers often use recycled boxes of mismatched dimensions and this makes it harder to distribute their produce. If you have any more questions about working with Buy-Low Foods to get your produce into stores, Bob Sheridan is happy to help. Photo Credit: Matthew Davidson from Amlec Organics