Pop Up Farmers Market in Richmond

There is a great pop up farmers market to visit in Richmond that brings the chance to find some fresh vegetables and also help students at the same time in the BC area. This pop up farmers market is a little different because this produce is grown by students.

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Local produce sold at the pop up farmers market in Richmond is sustainably grown by students from KPU Farm Schools. Those KPU BC Farm Schools are the Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School and Richmond Farm School and the food grown is then sold at the market.

These KPU farm schools offer multi-month programs that give students a great foundation of learning what goes into farming. They get to be educated by some of the best, learning from true food-growing experts on the principals and practices that go into regenerative farming.

The students have been busy growing things like kale, chard, romaine, scallions, broccoli heads, beets, and more.

A visit to the pop up farmers market is a great way to support the students and get a chance to try some delicious, fresh, local BC produce as well.

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Where to Find hands on farmer training programs in BC

During the pandemic many more people became interested in farming, growing, and starting their own gardens right at home.

There is widespread interest for growing and supporting local food systems, as well as embracing regenerative farming practices that can help to bring value to the community as well.

This is one place to find that education for those in BC who are interested in learning more about farming, and for those who want to get hands-on experience with growing food and all that might be involved with farming today.

Buy Local, Fresh, BC Produce

The pop up farmers market associated with the farm schools is a great way to show support for those students and to get access to a good selection of local produce as well.

You can browse their social media page for more updates on those pop up farmers markets.

Photo by Greta Hoffman on Pexels.com

Subscription Boxes for Quality Produce in BC

The pop up market isn’t the only place to gain access to the great food that they might be growing. There are also produce box subscriptions that you can find which are associated with the farm school, these services offer a multi-week subscription for small, medium, or large boxes of produce.

The subscriptions for BC produce are another option for accessing some quality local BC food and you don’t have to drive all the way to Richmond to get it as they’ve got different pick-up locations.

BC Farmer Starts Growing Saffron

Photo by Elena Shirnina on Pexels.com

A farmer from Abbotsford might be one of the first BC farmers to plant and successfully harvest saffron in the province. Most of the saffron in the market today around the world is being produced in Iran, they represent over 80 percent of the world’s saffron supply.

Growing One Of The World’s Most Expensive Spices

The farmers in Iran have been successful at planting and harvesting saffron in this region because of the ideal conditions. While an area like BC on the other hand is quite different in climate, and before now it might not have been thought to be possible by many for this crop to be able to be planted and successfully harvested, as it has been by this Abby farmer.

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This opens up new opportunity in the province for BC farmers who might be looking for more lucrative crops to start growing, when others might not be performing as they had hoped. But it doesn’t come without some trial and error first. It’s reported that the wet climate found in the province had helped in the growing process of the saffron and didn’t work against it in making it possible for the crop to be planted and harvested later on.

Saffron is regarded as the most expensive spice in the world and that is because of the tedious harvesting process which requires that the flower be hand-picked and then those threads are dried before being sold onto the market.

The Cost of Saffron

How much is saffron? According to a report from Business Insider just last year, saffron can cost up to $10,000 per kilogram.

Saffron is used in a variety of dishes today and a small bottle of saffron can cost around $30 for 5 grams of saffron, it depends on the quality, and other factors like where you are purchasing from etc.

This is a great Business Insider video on why saffron is so expensive it details the amount of physical labor that goes into plucking each of those threads that later has to be dried before being sold onto the market. This is a great video report from BI that talks about not only the high demand and labor process that goes into farming saffron but also the history of this crop as well.

Saffron isn’t a common crop that is grown in Canada or BC and to hear that there has been a farmer in Abbotsford that has grown saffron is surprising. This might be the start of something new for the local food market and bring with it a lot of new opportunity as this is one of the most highly sought after spices in the world today.

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It’s anticipated that by 2027 this market for saffron worldwide is going to reach over $1.4 billion. There are thousands of restaurants around the world that use saffron, as well as millions of consumers who love to buy and cook with this product.

Some of the most popular crops that are grown around BC are crops like canola, barley, oats, peas, and wheat. You can also find many apple orchards as well though and other fruits being grown in the Okanagan and around BC. Saffron however that is one that you might not have heard of being grown in this region until now, this might just be the start of it.