The Produce Box, LLC

By: Miriaha Stone (May 7, 2013)
I thought that The Produce Box was a great idea at first. I was as in love with it as most of the other reviewers. However, then I started asking some questions. My first question was if they knew if their farmers were using migrant workers in their camps to harvest our food, the produce box sent back a response saying they go out to their farms at least once a year and make sure everything is legal and that most of the farms they use have a regular staff and are following federal wage laws.

I was satisfied with that question till I started gleaning for the Inter Faith Food Shuttle at some of their farms and then wanted to compare the Produce Box farms to the farms the Inter Faith Food Shuttle was using. So since the only thing on the Produce Box's website about their farmers other than random names of people as opposed to the farm's name itself, I asked the Produce Box who their 35 farmers were that they quoted on the site. I then got an answer that they don't publish that kind of information on the website, so I asked for a list on a sheet of paper, to which they replied that they have it in their newsletters. After looking at the newsletter I received the past two weeks I didn't see any farm names at all. So I asked again for the farm names to which I got the reply, why are you curious? After I told them I was just interested for educational purposes they never responded. I contacted them a few more times and after being ignored I gave up.

I have now looked at other sites like Back Yard Produce: http://www.byproduce.com/ as well as Papa Spud's Produce Box: http://papaspuds.com/ both of which name each farm on their website along with telling where each piece of produce is coming when you are buying it. At least with these companies who offer the same door to door produce service you can actually see where your local food is coming from. The Produce Box seems to have something to hide, it is just as cryptic as going to the store and buying produce there, you don't know exactly where it is coming from or if it is actually local. Best to go with either of the two companies mentioned above.

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