Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam D’Angelo. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Project Pawpaw was started by Adam D’Angelo with the sole goal of bring pawpaws to the people. Pawpaws are North America’s largest native fruit taste like banana and mango and have the texture of a rip avocado. If you’ve never had the chance to try a pawpaw, you aren’t alone. Despite the fact that these trees grow wild in forests throughout the South, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, many people have never had the chance to try pawpaw fruit due their very short shelf life. But the people who have had the chance to try a pawpaw are usually hooked. You can find thousands of people attending pawpaw festivals all across the Eastern US, with the largest hosted right here in Ohio.
Adam has been growing pawpaw trees since he was 11 but started working on Project Pawpaw in a more meaningful way three years ago. As a plant breeder, he hopes to perform critical research on the best ways to grow, harvest, and store pawpaws as well as develop new varieties of pawpaws that last longer while still tasting great and growing well. “Pawpaws are a fantastic crop for small farmers, as they can be grown with fewer chemical inputs than conventional fruit and don’t require much on-farm infrastructure.” He says pawpaws can be established in orchards for a fraction of the cost of crops like apples and can help small farmers to stay competitive in a world of big money and big farms. “We want to give farmers tools to succeed while also giving consumers access to locally grown, sustainable, and delicious fruit!”
This year Project Pawpaw kicked off a large crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the planting of 1,500 trees into a research orchard. Travelling all around the Eastern US, Adam was particularly impressed with the support he found at the Ohio Pawpaw Festival in Athens, Ohio. The research and breeding efforts of Project Pawpaw are funded entirely through donations and the proceeds from sales of t-shirts, seedlings, and other pawpaw-themed merchandise at festivals and in their online store. To find our how you can support Project Pawpaw or to learn more about this fantastic native fruit and the efforts to improve it, check out www.projectpawpaw.com
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest struggle has been trying to access capital for the project. Most investment in agriculture and even grant funding through federal sources like the USDA need results on a shorter time frame than is possible when working with tree crops. As a result, many of the promising native fruit and nut crops have not received the same attention that other annual crops have. To overcome this, Project Pawpaw decided to adopt a rather unconventional business model, which they describe as “pawpaws for the people, by the people.” Instead of relying upon large investments from corporations or the government, Project Pawpaw has been raising its money directly from people who are passionate about getting pawpaws to farmers’ markets and grocery store. Supporters of Project Pawpaw have been buying all sorts of products, from pawpaw-themed Hawaiian Shirts to handmade pawpaw earrings at festivals and online. The proceeds from these sales directly support Project Pawpaw’s mission, and having pawpaw-themed shirts on the street helps raise awareness about this underappreciated fruit.
Adam says, “People are enthusiastic about pawpaws, and over the past 5 years, we have seen the demand for pawpaw fruit grow dramatically. If we can develop a more robust value chain and better ways to get fruit from the tree to the table, we would have a fantastic crop for small farmers.”
As you know, we’re big fans of Project Pawpaw. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
Project Pawpaw is a crowdfunded research and breeding program dedicated to helping pawpaws (Asimina triloba) play a bigger part in the modern food system. We have a three-phased approach:
Research on the best ways to grow, harvest, and store pawpaw fruit.
Breeding new varieties of pawpaws that grow well, taste great, and have a longer shelf life.
Market Development to ensure that farmers growing pawpaws have a reliable path from tree to table.
All of the proceeds from seedling and merchandise sales are being used to help fund the planting of a large research orchard to help us accomplish these goals. People can learn more about our work or support us through our online store at www.projectpawpaw.com
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
This wouldn’t be possible without the support we’ve gotten from people who want to invest in a more sustainable and robust food system!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.projectpawpaw.com
- Instagram: @project.pawpaw
- Facebook: @projectpawpaw
- Youtube: @projectpawpaw
Image Credits
Adam D’Angelo
Project Pawpaw
