Farm Fresh Forks, Labor of Love reaching nat’l audience

Complimentary cookbooks available on website

The Farm Fresh Forks and Labor of Love, created locally to highlight the stories of Yuma’s fresh vegetable industry, are reaching a national audience.

The Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association, a Yumabased nonprofit organization, believes firmly in the importance of educating and engaging with consumers through a variety of outreach programs. Two of those programs are taking center stage to reach millions.

Eating Well, a popular national healthy lifestyle magazine, features the Labor of Love program in the July/August edition. In each edition, the magazine includes a “Tastemakers” page focusing on people across the country who have a hand in growing healthy choices. Steve Alameda, president of the YFVA and owner of Top Flavor Farms, is featured, along with his participation in the Labor of Love program, in the article. Eating Well has 6.8 million readers plus 2.9 million Facebook followers per month.

“I’m humbled to be able to represent the Yuma area agriculture industry on a national level,” Alameda said. “The Labor of Love program enhances our industry in many ways. Our employees are our lifelines. They are the ones in the fields doing their very best to provide safe, quality produce to the rest of the country on a regular basis and we are thrilled that our simple answer to offering appreciation has had a light shone on it.”

The Labor of Love program was created by YFVA to thank farmworkers for their service to the agriculture industry. It also allows the opportunity to share the crews’ talents, loyalty and work ethic through social media and the website www. laborofloveyuma.com.

The “random acts of kindnesses” that are offered to farmworkers include meals, gift cards, raffle prizes and heartfelt thanks from the team that surprises them when they least expect it.

The program was started in Yuma but migrates with the crews to the Salinas, Calif., every summer before returning to Yuma in the fall. YFVA’s Farm Fresh Forks program offers consumers an opportunity to taste what’s coming out of the fields. As part of the Arizona Department of Agriculture’s specialty crops grant, the project took place January through March and has now released a cookbook for consumers to continue eating specialty crops throughout the year.

The 12-week Farm Fresh Forks program highlighted a different grower and/ or shipper each week and three locally grown products at six participating Yuma restaurants. Chefs created tasting plates for their guests so they could try local produce in a variety of recipes. Thanks to the grant, YFVA had an opportunity to promote Farm Fresh Forks on a national level.

In addition to promoting Yuma’s agriculture, the program also attracted visitors to Yuma looking for an authentic vegetable tasting experience.

“Wine has had the edge on tastings but now vegetable tastings are a trend. Vegetables have many different tastes, colors and textures. Thanks to the talent of the local chefs, their different recipes created a unique experience each week,” said Mark Stover with Tanimura & Antle, a participating specialty crop grower/shipper.

“We believe it’s a winwin to pair our local products with chefs and then to promote this relationship through a tasting experience that everyone can enjoy. Not only did their guests taste our produce, they also had an opportunity to learn about Yuma agriculture,” he added.

The complimentary Farm Fresh Forks cookbooks are available at local restaurants and consumers can also request one by mail. Visit www.FarmFreshForks.com and click on the link to request the cookbook.

The program was selected to receive funds again for the 2018-2019 cycle, which will allow the program to continue and thrive. Updates can be found on the website throughout the year.

For more information about these programs, contact Limelight Creative Group at Susan@LimelightCreativeGroup.com or 928276-3408.