Employers have found new ways to owe their employees. Most office campuses are complete with a canteen as employers have taken care of the stomachs of their employees. Now, this not just stops with sandwiches and donuts but they have gone a step further to bring in fresh vegetables to ensure that their employees stay healthy. Companies are hiring qualified chefs to prepare lunch and snacks that are not just stomach full but a heart full also. A novel program called Farm to Work is picking up in Texas that offers affordable local produces right at the office. This concept can conveniently be called workplace supported agriculture.
Through this program, employees can lay their hands on fresh fruits and vegetable by avoiding unhealthy junk food. In a study by an online journal called Preventing Chronic Disease supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was researched that since 2007 the time Farm to Work was started up to 2012 around 37,500 baskets of fresh produces were sold under the program and the number is going up every time. The model is simple, and the participants are not required to pay any initial amount or commitment to buy on a weekly basis. The employees can just sign up to get their weekly produces. The box currently costs $20 per piece.
The Farm to Work program that initially started with one farm has now 49 work sites and 10 farmers. In each work site, around 200 to 2,000 participants take part. To show their popularity, there is a waiting list in Austin. Executive Director of Sustainable Food Center, Andrew Smiley made it clear that it is simply giving healthy food at the workplace. The interesting part is that it taught the participants what to do with the odd vegetables inside the box by posting recipes online. Moreover, Simley says that the awareness is created by the truck drivers who unload the crates in front of the building.