Garrett and Cheryl Ouellette from the Farm Advisory Commission will administer the Puget Sound Fresh program – begun by the King County Agriculture Commission to encourage consumers, wholesalers, retailers and restaurants to seek out and purchase locally grown products – in Pierce County.
They will be at the Downtown Tacoma Farmers Market Thursday, Aug. 22 giving Puget Sound Fresh materials to vendors.
The program is designed to increase consumer preference for locally grown products by identifying those products with a Puget Sound Fresh sticker or banner.
Area grocery stores and farmers markets are being invited to promote local produce and farm products by using the logo.
All Pierce County farmers markets and farmers in Pierce County that sell their products locally will receive marketing materials for their customers.
Funding comes from the Cascade Harvest Coalition, a regional non-profit that is taking over the program, and Pierce County.
Any farm product grown, raised or harvested within one of the 12 counties that border Puget Sound may be identified as Puget Sound Fresh.
“Farmers, wholesalers, retailers and restaurants are urged to join the program to share the Puget Sound Fresh message. It’s easy – and it makes good sense,” Steve Garrett, an extension agent with WSU Cooperative Extension in Pierce County said.