We had been purchasing through DBar Farms/380 Farm Stand/their location at the Denton Community Market, but unfortunately don't feel comfortable doing so any longer after we tried reaching out for some clarification and weren't able to get an answer.
We are aware that farms in TX can't grow everything due to climate/soil, & some places get extra product from outside of the state etc. We're fine with that as long as we know where it's from. We were told that it's all local while at the stand before, though we did assume that couldn't be the case based off what was available (we aren't unfamiliar with farming)
Based off experience elsewhere, we assumed this farm possibly had a network of other small farms in other states they did trades/business with.
But we caught on that couldn't be the case, based off what we were seeing. At 380 farm stand we found lemons with stickers from Argentina, No problem. Clearly labeled, we know the numbers, where it's from & purchased them. (Granted, we did notice the price difference)
However, we were at DCM & found pears, but got home & noticed spots where stickers had been removed and thought it was odd. Why remove them? We got concerned, has anything else had stickers removed? What products are theirs, how would we know? Is the produce the same as commerical produce we could find at big box stores we are avoiding? How do we know this isnt the same as what has been recalled? We had questions, so we reached out to ask about it.
We were told the pears were a mistake & they were meant for the stand and not DCM, no problem, understandable, things happen! But that didn't answer our question of WHO and WHY were the stickers removed?
We asked 2x without an answer/further replies. We thought they were waiting for someone else to reply to us so we gave it some time. Message sent Sept 1, reply Sept 3rd, review Sept 14th. We feel we gave an ample amount of time for a response.
They state they don't say that all of their produce is theirs, but on their advertising online (facebook) it does say local produce on their posts, and there are no signs anywhere at locations stating what is from where etc. (Unless there's already a clear label, like the jarred items, or lemons)
While we personally know better from our own life experience, we do feel that comes off misleading to others who wouldn't have the same knowledge. Most assume anything not labeled was grown by them personally. (We've even heard people say "it's organic" but it's not, as stated on their website, many people do assume any roadside/market produce is local) The website does say some of what they grow, but we weren't sure if other produce from elsewhere is added to their stock also to increase what's in stock.
The website states if you'd like to know what the produce has been sprayed with you can ask. Respectfully, that would be a trust issue for us. After reaching out about the stickers/where things are from, we didn't trust that we would be able to get an answer on that. Basically, we feel if the produce is from elsewhere that's fine, but people need to know what they're buying & there should be clear signage stating what is/is not theirs, & stickers should be on at any stand. Secondly, if some of the produce is commercially bought, why are the prices higher than if we had purchased the same stickered produce in stores? From a business standpoint, we feel that some things are intentionally vague and/or misleading as it helps sales, and for that reason we can't personally trust to continue to shop. We aren't sure what stores this produce ends up in, and many people avoid some stores for various reasons. We just kindly suggest more transparency at the stands themselves, & sharing on the website what their produce has been sprayed with. We feel that should just be easy information to find without any digging.
However we do think it's great that DBar is helping communities have more access to produce in general is a good thing, we would just like to see more transparency all around in the...
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