Almost 6 years ago, a group of smaller-acreage farmers in central Arizona decided to come together to create solutions to the challenge of working long hours on our own, growing delicious and beautiful vegetables, yet being barely able to make ends meet. Despite this hard work, each farmer’s individual efforts have not been enough to sustain our farms and compete with giant, industrial, & conventional operations.
Along with partners throughout the community and national experts as well, we started meeting to discuss ways we could work together to leverage and combine resources to create demand, expand customer base and transportation capacity. We needed to find a different way to do business, because smaller-acreage farming is not sustainable the way it has been. As a part of the solution, Sun Produce Cooperative was formed in 2017 to keep small, local farmers on the land, increase access to fresh, in-season Arizona produce, and help transform our state’s food system!