St Peters:--- Gratitude is always a must to everyone who continues to support SMFC’s Farmers Market at the St Peters Rupert Maynard Community Youth Center .
There are no words that can describe the appreciation we have for those who show support and respect for the mission we fight for towards making food security and its by-products a reality for the country of St Maarten.
SMFC invites the general public to come out this Saturday, Feb 22, 2025, for another blessed day to get their hands on quality produce, products, and some positive community engagement at the Farmers Market.
As we continue to enhance the experience of the marketplace based on feedback from the community, we’re also working on the continuous increase of Produce \ Product production to ensure its continuous sustainability.
Over the past 3 months, in collaboration with our regional farming partners, we produced over 3000kg (6000lbs) of healthy quality food grown directly for community consumer consumption at a reduction of retail cost. These crop ranged in the variety of season peppers, cucumbers, carrots and pumpkin.. Additional crops that are slowly being added to the marketplace based on their increase in production are eggplant, yams, cherry tomatoes (red & yellow), and bell peppers.
With growth, there are also losses. Over the past 3 months, we have also encountered tremendous losses of over 1000+ kg (2000+ lbs) of cucumbers due to the low demand at the first inception of the production.
Our first project of cucumbers was not widely accepted by the larger retail market based on the fact that retailers were discarding the same variety we started to grow because the quality and shelf life was below their consumer standard. The sad part about this is, they would still take it if they have no other choice, which passes on the losses directly to their consumers..
The good part about all this was the direct community consumer accepted the cucumber we selected from the start, and this allowed us to access and research the market to challenge the supply and demand, resulting in the same cucumber variety now being accepted by some retailers based on its quality, consumer acceptance, and sustainability. The challenge we now face is that we have discarded the old variety to introduce the new one to reduce losses, resulting in a slight decrease in the production of cucumbers over the next 2 weeks before capacity improves. With every challenge there is growth, we must embrace the challenges to be able to grow. So, we have now also added back a limited capacity of the first variety to offer both to consumers..
With limited capacity and resources, SMFC will continue to stay steadfast on the mission with determination and willpower to see healthier quality food reach our community members at affordable cost.
This Saturday the Farmers Market will offer once again a wide variety of produce and products from the dedicated community farmers and product developers.
The variety of items available this weekend will be fresh cold press juices, banana bread, baked pumpkin jonny cakes with chickpeas, veggie soup, honey, coconut oil, castor oil, fresh eggs, plants, gardening materials, and locally made natural soaps, skin \ body care products.
Fresh Produce available this week from our local and regional farmers will be season peppers, sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes ( red & yellow), avocado, plantain, carrots, pumpkin, cucumbers, sweet potato, papaya, pineapple lettuce, salad mix, callaloo, tyarblad, basil, mint, lemon grass, big leaf thyme, curry leaves, bay leaf, celery, and parsley.
The Farmers Market begins at 9 am until 2 pm, so we encourage community members to come out as early as 9 am to get their first picks.
SMFC once again would like to thank the general public for supporting the Farmers Market. Your support continues to demonstrate the need for positive community development, engagement, and agricultural \ product sustainability. See you on Saturday, Feb 22, 2025, from 9 am to 2 pm, at the Rupert Maynard Community Center, St Peters.
