ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 23, 2011) \u2013 All 10 BJ\u2019s Wholesale Clubs in Maryland will begin offering fresh, Maryland-grown produce, starting this Friday. The Farm to Club program, which BJ\u2019s created in partnership with the Maryland Department of Agriculture\u2019s Marketing Office, will provide its members with fresh-from-the-farm zucchini, cucumbers and yellow squash that was grown on three Maryland farms. In the near future, BJ\u2019s intends to include locally grown tomatoes, green peppers and corn.<\/p>\n
“Seventy-eight percent of Marylanders say they want fresh produce that’s grown in Maryland, and BJ\u2019s has recognized and begun to address that growing consumer demand,\u201d said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. \u201cI congratulate BJ\u2019s Wholesale Club and the Maryland farmers who have partnered with them for bringing more healthy options into their clubs and for supporting local farmers and the state\u2019s agriculture industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The participating Maryland farms are Arnold Farms, LLC in Chestertown (Kent County); Butler Farms in Marion Station (Somerset County); and Miller Farms in Clinton (Prince George\u2019s County).<\/p>\n
BJ\u2019s intends to roll out its Farm to Club program in six other states later this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a buyer for BJ\u2019s, I strive to provide quality fresh produce that our Members can be proud to feed to their families and friends, and I\u2019m thrilled that BJ\u2019s Members in Maryland will be able to get the best that this state has to offer,\u201d said Rob Johnson, BJ\u2019s produce buyer. \u201cAs someone who has followed produce trends for more than 30 years, I recognize there is a strong desire to buy and serve local produce for a variety of reasons, but what I am most proud about is the fact that it\u2019s also very good for the local community and the people who are growing our food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Find a BJ\u2019s near you.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 23, 2011) \u2013 All 10 BJ\u2019s Wholesale Clubs in Maryland will begin offering fresh, Maryland-grown produce, starting this Friday. The Farm to Club program, which BJ\u2019s created in partnership with the Maryland Department of Agriculture\u2019s Marketing Office, will provide its members with fresh-from-the-farm zucchini, cucumbers and yellow squash that was grown on Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[170,171],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-bj-wholesale-clubs","tag-maryland-grown-produce"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}