For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 22, 2009

Village Farms debuted its new ‘Barefoot Plan’ at PMA this year in Anaheim receiving a favorable response in its effort to spread awareness of its ongoing sustainability initiatives. The plan is designed to build awareness of Village Farms’ green agricultural methods that benefit the environment as well as consumers who use their products. Details of the plan are now featured on Village Farms website and within a new trade ad debuted during PMA in The Produce News.   Forthcoming news articles will be introduced to the trade to further explain the details of each key aspect of this plan.

Simply put, there are five points to the plan which focus on the efficiencies and environmental benefits included in Village Farms hydroponic greenhouse growing methods. These include; water conservation, land preservation, integrated pest management, recycling Co2, and food safety. Village Farms uses catchy icons to convey the Barefoot Plan attributes. These icons will be integrated onto Village Farms product packaging along with simplified marketing messages to educate retailers and consumers about the plans environmentally friendly growing methods and overall commitment to reducing their ecological footprint. 

According to Helen Aquino, Marketing Manager for Village Farms, “We are seeing the trend in seeking an understanding about how food is grown and produced as becoming more and more mainstream for consumers. However, we also realize it is a bit of a catch-22 because agricultural systems are complex while consumers require simplicity at the grocery store. A fresh product has little opportunity to convey complex messaging compared to say a CPG product”. Barefoot Plan was created to simply and clearly build awareness of what Village Farms has been doing from the very beginning, is doing currently, and will continue to do in the future in its part to be environmentally sustainable.   For more information about Village Farms and Barefoot Plan please visit www.villagefarms.com