Kuna should capitalize on local farm movement

Thank you to Sharon Fisher, chairwoman of the Kuna Chamber of Commerce's economic development committee, for putting together last week's agribusiness panel.
It was an interesting conversation at the very least. I hope it serves as a springboard for future cooperation and a joint project among Kuna's agriculture interests, particularly Kuna's agritourism businesses, such as Vogel Farms Country Market, Cabalo's Orchard, Indian Creek Winery and Linder Farms.
While the Kuna Farmers Market is a good starting place, unfortunately, “a bad day in Eagle is a good month in Kuna,” according to one of the vendors who left the Kuna Farmers Market.
That’s because there’s not enough awareness of the market in the local community. Even though local residents can get an entire meal at the Kuna Farmers Market, from produce and bread to meats and milk, not enough people know about what the market has to offer.
Debi Vogel said she'd like to see a directory of all the farms in the Kuna area all in one place, so that people from outside of Kuna can make a day of it in Kuna. A visitor could go to Linder Farms in the morning, head over to Cabalo’s for some apples or produce, go to Indian Creek Winery for some wine, take a tour of Stewart Dairy, go to Vogel’s to pick up some steaks for dinner that night, have lunch at El Gallo Giro, stop off at Paul’s on the way out of town. There’s a tremendous opportunity for Kuna to package that experience and sell it to the outside world.
Great idea, that I think Kuna could execute — if the businesses can come together. If they join the Kuna Chamber of Commerce, as they should, the chamber could help facilitate such a project.
Who knows, if some people who live in Kuna take a look at people from Boise and Meridian coming down to Kuna, they might think to themselves, "Hmm, maybe I should check out Kuna, too."