Tyrone Robinson Jr and Tamara Cox are a young couple from Ocho Rios who started a business called The Crop Box about six months ago. The company delivers packaged orders of farm produce to customers as far away as Kingston and Montego Bay.

The business started with a positive response from customers and, as the COVID-19 pandemic reached Jamaica, The Crop Box started growing even faster.

“After the arrival of COVID-19 the service became even more appealing,” Robinson Jr revealed.

With the Government continuing to appeal for self-isolation and social distancing among citizens in the midst of the pandemic, the young entrepreneur points out that a farm service with similarities to Amazon,which delivers products to your front door when you need to stay at home, is very useful.

Robinson Jr is the farmer in the family. The 33-year-old has been involved in farming for the past five years, after previously being a chef and a pilot. The Crop Box started out only delivering his farm produce, but other farmers who recognised the value of the service quickly came on board which increased the company’s product range.

Farm products now include potatoes, sweet potatoes, herbs, spices, carrots, tomatoes, pumpkins, plantains, naseberries and a host of other fruits and vegetables.

“First, we only used to distribute what we farmed but now we distribute for over 20 farmers,” Cox revealed. “COVID-19 pushed the business in that direction.”

Cox is a 28-year-old who has years of experience in sales, including owning a perfume store which had outlets in Ocho Rios and Montego Bay. She gave an additional reason for why other farmers have started utilising the service.

“One of the problems of a farmer is that farmers often don’t get the price that their product is worth,” she said.

According to Cox, large distributors try to extract as low a price as they can from farmers who have no choice but to comply because they need to maintain their cash flow.

“The difference between us and them is that we make sure that the price that the farmer gets is good for them as well as being good for the consumer,” she emphasised. “So we’re not killing anybody; we are not killing the farmer and we are not killing the consumer.”

Robinson Jr added, “Being a farmer myself and knowing what farmers go through is part of why we arrived at Crop Box.”

He claims that having this additional channel of distribution to the consumer allows farmers to move their produce faster, and when that happens they are able to plant more, plant faster and see more returns on their product.

“All of the farmers I know have realised that the tourism market has had such a big influence,” he stated. “All the products are geared towards the hotels but now we have an opportunity to be able to distribute the product not just to hotels, but to everybody. And we are giving a price that everybody can afford.”

Cox elaborated further on the point.

“For example, some of the fresh herbs and spices that we have online such as tarragon, basil, dill fennel, have they been widely used?” she asked. “Not really, because the farmers that farm these things have been farming them for hotels because of their specialty restaurants. Now, these things are on our listings and can be bought fresh. Consumers don’t have to buy the dried ones, the dry seasoning in the supermarket – they can buy them fresh from us.”

“So it has opened the door,” she continued. “Even some of the farmers didn’t realise they could have sold so much of it outside of the hotels.”

Customers also appreciate the added value they get from The Crop Box.

“We go through very heavy checks when we receive the produce,” the sales professional declared. “We don’t deliver anything that is of low quality and we’re helping the farmers to want to improve.”

Robinson also made the point that at the supermarkets the best farm produce is usually bought quickly by consumers while those who are late may only find deteriorating farm produce. That situation is eliminated by purchasing farm produce via delivery.

The promotion of the business is done through social media, particularly Instagram and Facebook. Orders are taken through other channels.

“Right now our orders must be placed via WhatsApp or email,” Robinson explained. “We send out weekly listings both on our social media and via our WhatsApp broadcast list. Our listing changes weekly depending on farmers’ availability.”

The couple handles the delivery part of the business themselves.

“Currently we deliver personally,” the young farmer said. “It helps us understand the wants and needs of the market. We can hear directly from our customers how they would prefer items to be delivered etc. Their feedback has helped us change some of our packaging.”

But will a service such as The Crop Box continue to thrive after COVID-19?

“Definitely,” Cox answers without hesitation. “I deliver to a lady who works at the tax office. She expressed not that she would never go to the market again but having to work from early in the morning to very late at night, with weekends being her only time at home, she would love to continue being able to get her fresh fruit and vegetables at home. So I don’t think everybody will go back to going to a supermarket.”

So the couple continues to be focused on growth and a long-term future for the business. They will soon be expanding into honey, organic products and meats.

“We also have a local water provider who wants to see if they can come on board to add water to our listing,” Cox announced. “We can deliver water to homes. We have another lady who makes home-made products like pestos who has come on board. She’s also a farmer who makes all of her stuff from scratch.

“We’ve had an opportunity for growth since COVID-19 occurred and more people knowing us has helped as well. Knowing the type of people we are and the amount of detail we put into our products and our packaging, the time we put into sorting and the quality we provide has encouraged a lot of people to come to us.”

Robinson shares his partner’s expectations on the growth of the business and added a touch of religious conviction.

“Food should be available to everybody,” he insisted. “Every food that is grown on God’s green earth should be available to everybody!”