CRESTVIEW — Riders in the Farm-to-City mini-parade that rolled up Main Street Friday morning didn’t toss candy to the few residents who paused to watch.
What they distributed was far healthier: fresh-from-the-farm produce.
“We always celebrate Farm-City Week by distributing fresh vegetables to those in need,” said Molly Huffman, chairwoman of the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee.
“We like giving people a taste of fresh vegetables instead of something out of a can,” she said.
The parade’s two trailers, towed by shiny farm tractors, were packed with sweet potatoes, kale, cabbage, turnips, collards, and grits and corn meal ground from Okaloosa County-grown corn.
“We also (had) peanut butter we gathered with the county extension’s Take a Bite Out of Hunger (collection),” Huffman said.
“It’s all locally grown produce,” University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension agent Jennifer Bearden said. “Some places serve breakfasts or lunches. A food giveaway is what we choose to do” during Farm-City Week.
The parade paused at Richbourg E.S.E. School, where students, accompanied by their teachers and aides, poured out the front door to select a fresh sweet potato to take home from the lead tractor’s front bucket.
At Woodlawn Baptist Church, the parade came to a halt and remaining produce, grits, corn meal and peanut butter was given to the church’s soup kitchen volunteers for distribution.
DID YOU KNOW?
Supporting local farmers means you can eat fresher, tastier food.
That's because crops don’t have to be picked before they’re ripe to be shipped to distant markets, according to University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension agent Jennifer Bearden.
And it’s healthier.
“People don’t understand that ‘organic’ produce has more bacteria than conventional produce,” she said. “I know farmers around here are not going to use excess chemicals to grow their crops, so I prefer to just buy local.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Farm to city to table: Area celebrates Farm-City Week (PHOTOS, VIDEO)