Aware of the trend to marketing second-grade or ugly produce, BC Fresh Vegetables (dba BCfresh)  has launched its own brand:  Farmer’s Keepers. 
    

“This is a new opportunity for us to market produce that may not meet our own grade one standards, but is a real advantage to customers looking for a great price,” says Brian Faulkner, vice-president, sales and marketing, B.C. Fresh Vegetables. Based in Delta, B.C., he says that first efforts have been with yellow and red-skinned potatoes. Ten-pound bags of Farmer’s Keepers generally retail in the realm of $3.99 or less.
    

The positioning of the brand is to appeal to those who are savvy with ingredients and who know that the produce is nutritionally sound, except for a blemish or two. The experiment with the 2015 crop of potatoes has resulted in many truckloads moved to market, mostly in British Columbia, but also to the prairies. With that first-season success, carrots will be next. Faulkner says there are no extra promotion dollars spent on Farmer’s Keepers.
    

For the 60 farm families that grow for the BCFresh banner, it’s a good initiative  Potato planting of early varieties started in late February in BC’s Fraser Valley with first harvest expected in May. Locally grown produce is in demand every month of the year.  
    

With no dehydration plant in close proximity to take these “seconds,” the prospects of selling these potatoes are encouraging, returning more money back to the growers. 
    

As Faulkner talks about the success of the project, he quips:  “Beauty is only a peeler away.”