By Wendy Weitzel for the Davis Farmers Market
In Davis Farmers Market circles, Riffat Ahmad is known as the Plum Pusher.
The owner of Ahmad Farms sells all kinds of stone fruit, pears, citrus and pomegranates that his family grows on 10 acres in the Colusa County town of Arbuckle. He waits till the fruit is perfectly ripe, then hand picks each piece. If it’s for a Wednesday afternoon market, he harvests it that morning. For Saturday markets, he does it on Friday afternoon.
Hailey MacNear, 41, the daughter of market Executive Director Randii MacNear, grew up eating Ahmad’s fruit. The farmer has been selling there since 1988. Fondly, Hailey said Ahmad has an almost “aggressive style of sampling and giving me fruit.” That’s why she and others call him the Plum (or Pluot) Pusher.
He just wants people to appreciate his hard work, and knows if he can persuade someone to taste his fruit, they’ll be hooked. “One doctor (who was a customer) told me I could sell snow to an Eskimo.”
Ahmad said his many colored pluots (plum/apricot hybrids) and peaches are his biggest sellers. “I pick them at their peak, when they are really sweet on the trees.” When the products get to the market, “they’re just a few hours old.”
Of course, not every peach, plum or pear is pristine, especially when they are so ripe. If a shopper complains about a bruise or imperfection, he shrugs and gives them an extra one – no charge.
He’s built a rapport with buyers and other farmers in the last 36 years. “People leave (Davis) and come back, and can’t believe I’m still here.”
But he’s at home at the market, calling it a social hour for many in the community. Ahmad has shipped fruit to bigger sellers but said that it takes many months to be paid for his crop. Farmers markets have no middle person. He sees the cash within hours of harvest.
And his customers taste the difference of tree-ripened freshness.
Ahmad Farms
Find them at the Davis Farmers Market every Saturday and Wednesday
Farm address: 940 Hale Ave., Arbuckle
Produce: Apples, apricots, cherries, grapefruit, loquat, nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums, pluots and pomegranates.
Davis Farmers Market
Central Park, Fourth and C streets, Davis
Saturdays: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round
Wednesdays: 3 to 6 p.m. October through April; 4 to 8 p.m. May through September for Picnic in the Park.
