Two local businesses that pride themselves on acquiring the freshest, locally grown products have found a ready source of tomatoes in the greenhouses of the Chino Valley Agribusiness and Technology Center.

There, student-cultivated tomatoes grow and ripen almost year-around. And now, a good portion of the weekly harvest winds up on the shelves of the Pangaea Bakery fresh food market and embellishing the culinary creations of Chef John Panza at Biga restaurant.

Panza is a fan of YC tomatoes for a number of reasons, with “consistency, quality and quantity” topping the list. “The consistency is pretty amazing actually. My customers are always getting the ripest tomatoes.” Both Panza and Biga are passionate about buying and using fresh, local products. “Collaboration and supporting local farms and businesses is what we are all about,” he said.

Panza uses YC tomatoes in a variety of Biga menu items, from sandwiches and burgers to his fennel broth, smoked tomato pesto and seasonal gazpacho.

YC Instructional Specialist Rich Peterson and a volunteer ensure 75 to 200 pounds of tomatoes get from the Chino Valley greenhouses to Biga and Pangaea every week. “I live close by so it’s easy,” Rich said, explaining he meets his volunteer in north Prescott, turns over the load of tomatoes and the volunteer makes the deliveries.

Tomato sales support the YC horticulture program in Chino Valley overall. “It all adds up to more equipment, more plants -- things we wouldn’t normally have afforded,” Rich said.

More than the money, Rich said partnering with local businesses provides tangible evidence for students of the business viability of growing plants and food. “Students plant the seeds, maintain the plants, harvest and market them. They see the full spectrum of crop growing and how it can make you money.”

One student, Wendy Raver, sold Pangaea owner Nicole Marshall on YC tomatoes during a lunchtime visit to the business located in the Boulders shopping center on Gail Gardner Way in Prescott.  “The timing was perfect. It was mid-semester and I didn’t have anywhere for my tomatoes to go,” said Rich, a Chino Valley farmer who markets his seedless grapes locally.

Both Pangaea and Biga, located on Miller Valley Road in Prescott, kindly promote YC tomatoes and the horticulture program with in-store signage and on their social media channels.

It’s possible more student-grown plants and vegetables could be distributed to local businesses if the college can expand its production capabilities, Rich said. For now, the majority of the fruits of YC students’ labor, including strawberries, lettuce, kale, chard, garlic, winter squash, corn and myriad plants, are sold at area farmers markets and at the college’s annual plant sale in May.

Panza said he’s amenable to buying more YC produce as it becomes available. “Our goal is to be as local as possible,” he said.

For information about YC horticulture degrees and certificates, visit www.yc.edu/growwithus.