HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Sam Accursio has high hopes for a farm-to-table retail revival.
The southwest Miami-Dade County farmer said he is relying on local demand for affordable fresh produce to bring life to his new market at 16790 SW 177 Ave.
“We are going to have a system where you can come in, social distance, wear your mask or we will bring it out to your car,” Accursio said about the customers’ drive-thru option.
Accursio announced on Facebook on Monday that he will be reopening his market on Oct. 30. He is relying on the Barn2Door app to pre-sell yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, pickling cucumbers by the crate, and green beans.
Barn2Door is a Seattle startup that makes e-commerce software for farmers. Geekwire reported in August that Barn2Door had raised $6 million to help farmers around the country to connect with neighboring customers.
The Barn2Door app’s Local Farm Finder database also includes two other farms in Miami-Dade: The Aloha Redland, which is selling AllSpice Leaf and Neem leaves, and the Fresh Gardens, which is selling dragon fruit and passion fruit.
Accursio said the shift to a direct-to-consumer business model was a way of adapting to the coronavirus pandemic, which collapsed traditional markets for his produce during the Spring growing season. He hopes local customers will support his farm during this harvest season.
“I have friends of mine that have bananas and so I am going to take their bananas and try to sell them here,” Accursio said. “We have local sugar cane along with tomatoes, green beans, pickles, and cucumber squash.”
Economists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported earlier this month that farmers will continue to feel the impact of the pandemic well into next year. They cited the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri’s projection that U.S. farmers' income will fall by $21.9 billion in 2021.
Accursio said there is a lot of uncertainty in the sector, but there is also a willingness to adapt.
“We think the demand is going to be there but we may in two months have to shift gears again," Accursio said. "We don’t know.”
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