Grey Bears collaborates with many local partners that form the food mosaic in each weekly brown bag. One of these is Driscoll’s, whose berries frequent bags during the spring and summer months. Driscoll’s also supports Grey Bears and other nonprofits through their Healthy Communities grant program.
One topic brought up by members in our recent brown bag survey was organics. Currently, about two-thirds of brown bag produce is organically grown, especially this time of year. We asked Driscoll’s about this and learned they have expanded their organic nursery plant production that will provide all of Driscoll’s USDA certified organic growers with organic nursery plants.
That’s big because every Driscoll’s berry begins life in a nursery. Nursery plants are delivered to independent growers who depend on CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) certified organic starter plants. With ever-increasing consumer demand for organically grown produce, Driscoll’s is planning to expand the program across all berries in Watsonville and Salinas in the coming years. We’re grateful for the support of such an innovative, community-minded partner committed to better stewardship of local resources, farmworkers, nutrition and nonprofits.