North Escambia, Santa Rosa Produce To Be Sold At Area Food World Stores

June 10, 2010

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stevescorn.jpgBeginning next week, shoppers will be able to purchase local produce grown in North Escambia and Santa Rosa County at their local Food World.

Produce grown locally and marketed by the Panhandle Fresh Marketing Association will be available in 20 Food World and Bruno’s supermarkets in Northwest Florida and South Alabama, including stores in Pensacola and Atmore.

Panhandle Fresh already handles the marketing, the insurance and logistics of getting produce like sweet corn from Walnut Hill to Wal-Mart. Panhandle Fresh secures the orders from Wal-Mart and works with local farmers to coordinate the produce delivery. And beginning Tuesday, June 15, the produce will be available in the Food World and Bruno’s stores.

Panhandle Fresh sits between the farmer and the chain stores, providing the $3 million in liability insurance, for instance, that Wal-Mart requires. The group also provides the marketing, works to secure shelf space for the products, takes care of most paperwork and bills the chain store for the produce. The farmer delivers his goods, bills Panhandle Fresh and receives a check for the fresh goods.

“We’re excited about partnering with Panhandle Fresh to promote our local farmers and their products in our stores,” said Tony Albano, a representative from Southern Family Markets, which owns the Food World and Bruno’s stores in the area. “From harvest to our stores, in some cases within a day, you just can’t beat the quality of fresh and local produce.”

The big grocery stores get the freshest product possible from local farms, and the local farmers that participate get a much needed financial boost.

Pictured top: Panhandle fresh product in an area Wal-mart. Pictured inset: Steve’s Sweet Corn from Walnut Hill was just one of the products that Panhandle Fresh worked to get from area fields  into retail giant Wal-Mart. Pictured bottom middle: Panhandle Fresh greens being sold in an area Wal-Mart. Submitted and NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

7 Responses to “North Escambia, Santa Rosa Produce To Be Sold At Area Food World Stores”

  1. mary on June 13th, 2010 8:56 pm

    Billy, Walmart does the same thing with our money….we take it to them, out of town, they send it to their home office in Arkansas…and we put the locals out of business…happens everyday

  2. DJ Sheffield on June 11th, 2010 11:20 am

    IT’S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE USES THE LOCAL PRODUCE….KEEP THE MONEY IN OUR AREAS WHERE IT IS NEEDED……..KUDOS TO FOOD WORLD!

  3. Boscar on June 10th, 2010 2:13 pm

    Does anybody know if they will have produce from Steve’s Farm?

  4. Billy on June 10th, 2010 10:41 am

    HURRAY!!!!! It’s about time they put some Florida produce in the grocery stores!!! It makes me sick whenever I see California produce on the shelves when the same items from Florida or Alabama are in season. We need to keep as much of our money in our own community as possible and these big grocery store chains that are owned by out of state corporations just funnel all of our money away to somewhere else. The low wages they pay to local employees is just a smidgen compared to the big bags full of money they load into armored trucks to ship out of state every day.

  5. LULU on June 10th, 2010 8:54 am

    The new Food World in Atmore is the old Food Fair and has always been my perferred place for grocery shopping. The people there are ALWAYS friendly and since Food World bought it, it has started to stock some different items (the fresh herbs is my favorite). It will be great to be able to purchase local produce as well. Give them a try, they beat Winn Dixie..hands down, on prices and on friendliness.

  6. T on June 10th, 2010 8:07 am

    I will have to try the one in Atmore.
    The one on Pine Forrest is not a friendly store at all.

  7. Escambia Resident on June 10th, 2010 12:49 am

    I’ve be liking the new Food World in Atmore. Even better if I can buy local produce there at a good price. The manager Mr. Brown is really nice at Food World.