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The Noble Produce Market makes available locally grown, fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers to the public.

The Market is not a farmers' market, but rather is an outlet for fruits, vegetables and flowers grown on Noble land. The goal of this market - and the underlying program - is to collect information that will be useful in helping Noble specialists and the public determine the value of fresh, locally grown and high quality produce.

In the past, Noble's horticulture specialists have focused their efforts on determining useful production information, including variety testing and alternative production techniques. This information has been beneficial to many regional agricultural producers that are engaged in vegetable production. However, production is only part of the equation. There is a shortage of reliable information concerning the marketing side of the produce business in the context of small, regional outlets.

There are different ways to gather marketing information - review published data (from prior years and/or different regions of the United States or Oklahoma), conduct surveys, interview regional vegetable producers or interview regional vegetable outlets. In the end, Noble believed the best way to understand the costs, needs and experience of marketing local produce is to actually market its own fruits, vegetables and flowers.

At least a portion of residents in metropolitan areas like Dallas and Oklahoma City have proven that they will pay a premium for freshness and quality in produce and in flowers. Does this same market extend to the Ardmore area? Is it possible to grow such produce and market it outside Ardmore? These are the questions that any person should ask before committing land, human and financial resources to initiating or expanding a produce enterprise. It is the intent of the Noble Produce Market to serve as a tool to help gather this important information.

The Noble Produce Market cannot serve all the produce needs of the consuming public - this also is part of the evaluation. Similar to the limited resources of a typical grower, the Market has only a limited amount of devoted acreage. Decisions regarding what should be grown and how much should be produced will be determined by the consumers from a year-to-year basis.

Check out when your favorite items will be generally available at the Noble Produce Market during the summer; however, on a week-to-week basis, please visit our schedule of available items.

As this effort progresses and information is gathered, we will post additional information about the Market, its products and its economical feasibility at the end of the season. We welcome your continued visits to this site to see this progress and hope you will have occasion to visit the Market (directions).