Reaping dollars!

FARMER STAFFORD Thompson, who was busy packaging bundles of callaloo for a customer, said the farmers' market in St Andrew was the best idea in his 11 years of farming.

He set up his stall at 6 a.m., and within a couple of hours, Thompson earned approximately $10,000 from his 38-acre farm, having sold 200 pounds of zucchini and 15 pumpkins, among other produce.

Thompson was among the many farmers who sold their produce yesterday at the farmers' market staged at the Ministry of Agriculture, Hope Gardens, in St Andrew.

"I sell pumpkin for $60 a pound and I come here this morning with about 15 pumpkins and I don't have one leave," Thompson told The Gleaner yesterday.

"So far, (the market) is pretty good. They really need to have this for the farmers. Sometimes we can't sell we stuff, and this is the best thing that's happened since I've been a farmer."

With another farmers' market scheduled in another couple of weeks, Thompson said he intends to take a lot more pumpkins and zucchini for those people who were introduced to the vegetable for the first time yesterday.

"A lot of people ask me what is this. I say zucchini and they ask how it look bout, and then they buy it to try it."

- L.R.