First farmers market truck brings fresh fruit, veggies to Moncton

WATCH: Moncton’s first farmer’s market truck rolled into the city. The innovative idea was born in the minds of two young New Brunswick men, both with a mind for business Shelley Steeves reports.

MONCTON – Moncton’s first farmers’ market truck rolled into the city today, loaded up with locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Matt Reyjal and Frederic Laforge came up with the idea for The Farmers Truck, thinking it would be an ideal way to get fresh locally grown produce to customers in a quick and convenient way.

“They know where their produce comes from, they know its fresh and that they can trust the source who brings it to them.” said Rayjal.

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Rayjal left a career as a business analyst to pursue farming three years ago.

Frederic Laforge grew up on a farm in northern New Brunswick where he watched his dad struggle to make a living running a small farm

“We are giving small farmers an opportunity to make potentially a good living and a new way to sell their product and I see that as a way my dad would have benefited from when I was young,” he said. “Matt spent a lot of time in Europe and in Europe trucks like that are everywhere.”

So they both decided to bring a little of that European feel to Moncton.

Today, the truck arrived in Moncton at noon and was greeted by a large crowd.

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“I am most excited about seeing people with strawberries,” said their first customer, Lorrain Bourque of Moncton.

“I have been here since five to 12 because I wanted to have strawberries and they really look good.”

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“It is essentially like an open market and that’s what we wanted to give, an open feel and you can talk to the people and ask them questions.” said Laforge. “The price tag is going to say where the vegetable comes from and how far it’s traveled.”

The mobile market will be parked throughout greater Moncton five days a week. People can find the locations on TheFarmersTruck.com and on Twitter and Facebook.

The pair of business savvy veggie vendors will also soon launch an app that people can use to source their location and order their product ahead of time and go pick it up at the truck.

Laforge says there was only one thing missing on their opening day.

“We’re thinking about changing the horn to a rooster.”

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