Salute to Idaho Agriculture: Idaho Preferred

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — It’s the Fourth of July and that means barbecue and fruit spreads all day long, and hopefully your fruit came with the Idaho Preferred sticker, as that is the focus of this week’s Salute to Idaho Agriculture.

The Idaho Preferred program currently includes over 300 companies statewide that are passionate about growing and selling quality food and agricultural products.

With over 185 different types of agricultural products grown in the state, producers who take part in Idaho Preferred may be on completely different ends of the agriculture spectrum.

The program’s director gave a little bit more background information on Idaho Preferred and what its goals are.

“Idaho Preferred was started 21 years ago through the efforts of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture and farmers and ranchers throughout the state. It is a program that promotes, connects and educates Idaho’s farmers and ranchers to help them scale and grow their marketplace,” Erica White, Director of Idaho Preferred said.

Grocery stores and farmers markets are not the only places you can get Idaho Preferred products because it has expanded into restaurants here in the Gem State as well.

“We launched this program to really be able to promote our products locally. To help our producers connect with retailers, with chefs in restaurants so that we could have a logo as well so the consumer could look for the logo when they shop or dine out to know that they were supporting local producers,” Laura Johnson, Bureau Chief of the Marketing Division of Idaho Preferred said.

Next time you head out to your local grocery store, look for products with the Idaho Preferred sticker, especially if you want to support local growers. Not to mention it will taste better too!