LEAMINGTON, ON – Summer is heating up across the Midwest, but NatureFresh™ Farms’ mobile greenhouse tour is undeterred. And after completing almost 50 events since mid-April, consumers are still coming back to the company’s #GreenInTheCity events to learn more about the way greenhouse veggies are grown.
“The mobile greenhouse has not only been a conversation starter but a difference maker in how we connect with our customers,” said Ray Wowryk, Director of Business Development. “We care about the future of fresh and all that it entails; we need to collectively increase fresh produce consumption. NatureFresh™ can help do that with the GEC and by getting front and center with consumers, we share our story to help inform them of the value of greenhouse vegetables. Knowing who grows what you buy is important, understanding how its grown is just as important if not more.”
NatureFresh Farm’s mobile Greenhouse Education Center (GEC) is a 38-foot, custom-built unit that the company describes, in a press release, as an exact snapshot of how it grows its vegetables in state of the art high tech greenhouses in Leamington, Ontario, and Delta, Ohio. Equipped with fruit bearing plants and complimented by a live Bumblebee Eco-System, the GEC serves as an education resource to inform consumers about how greenhouse vegetables are grown.
The GEC will be supported this summer by five college students who are responsible for event day operations, serving as NatureFresh Brand Ambassadors at each event, and interacting with retail partners to ensure their customers have the best possible experience. With varied backgrounds ranging from agri-business to environmental science to marketing to biology, NatureFresh notes, the team provides unique perspectives of the value of greenhouse grown vegetables.
“We are able to immediately impact consumers purchasing decisions at store level with the knowledge we share about how we grow greenhouse vegetables,” said Cole Burkholder, GEC Team Member and third year Environmental Science Major at Ohio State University—whose family operates a farming operation of more than 500 acres of row crops in central Ohio. “The look on people’s faces when we explain the greenhouse growing process, and they see the live plants with real fruit, it’s priceless. You kind of see that ‘a-ha’ moment in their eyes. We’ve even had customers show us their shopping carts when leaving to show us the tomatoes or bell peppers they have purchased because of our conversation. It’s a pretty good feeling!”
Now in its third year, the #GreenInTheCity Tour has completed more than 200 events to date across eastern North America connecting with consumers at retail stores, summer camps, schools, and community fairs.
The tour will continue through November and wrap up at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, Ontario, November 12th, 2017.
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