After the trip to Ms. Georgie’s organic poultry farm, our class wasted no time in heading on another field trip, this time to Fifer’s Orchards. The vast amount of crops grown at Fifer’s was incredible to witness, and what I was surprised about even more was that the top two grossing crops were sweet corn and pumpkins, the latter less for consumption and more for decorations! While Fifer’s is involved in a few farmer’s markets, their greater connection to the community is their community supported agriculture club (CSA). I had never heard of this before, however it is an ingenious idea. For those who choose to sign up for the CSA, they will receive a produce box for 18 weeks with a mix of crops grown at Fifer’s and other locally-grown produce, along with recipe ideas. The community members can then travel to one of eight locations to receive their produce box. This not only expands Fifer’s reach to the market, but also provides people from farther distances easy access to fresh produce. Being such a large orchard, it should come as no surprise that Fifer’s has adopted the use of biotechnology. For example, they use cameras to help sort apples by color and size, they use GMO crops (i.e. Round-up-Ready crops) and they plant large fields using the GPS tracking via Google maps. Local produce does not have to mean old-fashioned produce. Local farmers are moving into the future while still producing fresh crops for consumers, showing that technology and humans can truly work together for a more efficient, yet still wholesome, product.