Carving a niche between farmers and supermarkets
By Donnie Johnston
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)
FARMERS WHO GROW fruits and vegetables, especially on a limited scale, face a common problem: how to market them.
Farmers markets require time and travel, and a lone individual finds it almost impossible to sell to a large grocery chain.
Beginning tomorrow, farmers in the Culpeper area will have another option--Blue Ridge Produce.
Washington entrepreneur Jim Epstein has teamed up with Charlottesville businessman Mark Seale to form a company that will buy directly from farmers and then wholesale that produce to large grocery outlets along the East Coast.
Continue reading at The Free Lance-Star
Blue Ridge Produce opens in Culpeper
By Jim Charapich
Culpeper Times (Culpeper, VA)
Blue Ridge Produce opened this month with a celebratory gathering and Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting at the former Willow Run Property near the Culpeper Regional Airport. The gathering had representatives from Chicago, the Shenandoah Valley, and economic development leaders from our region.
Why such broad interest in a produce company located in Culpeper?
According to Chief Executive Officer Mark Seale, the company has over 40 growers ready to bring locally grown produce to market through the Blue Ridge Produce Channel. "Local" products are in high demand on every level including the large wholesalers in the Washington, D.C. market.