A lot of things motivate us to do what we do.
And some of them keep us up at night...
Like what? Food security.
Choosing to eat locally-grown food is a vote for food security. We need small farms to feed cities. Having food travel vast distances to get to our plates isn’t sustainable, and those places we depend on to grow our vegetables won’t be able to produce food reliably anymore as climate change progresses. The scale of these operations and the methods they use violate workers’ rights, Nature’s rights, and your right to nutritious food. By choosing to buy from FieldTrip, or any other local farm, you’re ensuring a direct and vital connection to your food supply.
Nutrition, Taste, and Value
It’s hard for us to hear about people paying premium prices for sub-premium produce from box stores. The fact is, locally-grown food retains more of its nutrients than the food that travels weeks to get here, and stays fresher much longer, earning you more nutrition per dollar spent. And maybe most importantly, locally-grown veggies just taste better! It makes us sad to hear that people don’t like their veggies, or their kids won’t eat carrots. Your veggies should taste so good that you can’t wait to dig in, and we aim to show that to as many people as possible.
But how? There’s a few hills to climb…
While we feel sure that local food is the answer, we also recognize the significant barriers to produce it. One of the most common labour woes in farming is access to transportation. Workers can't get to farms. Here at FieldTrip, we feel so fortunate to have such easy access. Our proximity to major roadways and key transpo hubs will allow us to eventually welcome workers with or without wheels, removing a key hurdle for us.
Another major barrier is pay, and for us to be able to attract a new generation of workers who will want to grow our food, we’ll need to pay them well. We’ll have to tackle this one from a lot of angles, by being ultra-efficient in everything we do, by minimizing waste wherever possible, by embracing non-traditional revenue streams, by educating the public on the actual costs of growing food, and by producing the tastiest organic veggies we possibly can so that people keep coming back for more! We hear people saying that you just can’t pay well in this industry, and well…we just don’t agree. Foundational work deserves quality pay and we’ll find a way to provide it.
Changing the game
We firmly believe that the work of growing food should be comparable to any line of work - we should be able to have reasonable hours, and make a decent living for what we do. And yet, so often in farming, gruelling hours, exhaustion, and low pay are the norm. We want to flip the script on food farming and redesign and repackage it into something that offers quality of life in addition to meaning. The work of growing food should be seen as a viable and attractive career path. If no one wants to do it, we’ll be in bigger trouble than we’re already facing.
You’re the reason we keep going
With all the challenges we face in the work of growing food, you, our customers are the reason we keep going. Over our years of farming we’ve gained a whole family of people who give us hope. You lift us up with words of encouragement on punishing days, you celebrate the gifts of nature with us, and you show us that a better world is possible. Truly, you keep us going. We believe that locally-grown food has the potential to make big changes, and that with your help, we can make a positive impact on the world around us. Sustainability, efficiency, and love are at the heart of everything we do, from our farm practices, to our packaging, to our plans for the future. Growing amazing organic vegetables is our service to the world, and we’re happy and grateful to be here to serve you 💚🌱