Palisade grower using digital art to promote local agriculture

By DAN WEST, The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Palisade’s peach growers have long looked for ways to get their fruit directly in the hands of consumers from farmers markets to roadside fruit stands, but this year one grower is expanding into the digital world in a unique effort to connect with buyers.

This summer Drew Harding, owner of Harding Homegrown in Palisade, began selling non-fungible tokens or NFTs of peaches — or PΞACHES as they are calling the artwork — that buyers can redeem for a box of Palisade peaches come harvest. An NFT is a unique digital file that is recorded on a blockchain — the same technology behind some cryptocurrencies.

NFTs have in the past been associated with digital art, which is what Harding decided to base his NFTs around. He partnered with United Kingdom-based artist Waxbones to design artwork for the 2023 release. It features peaches with unique faces that anyone can purchase and later redeem for real peaches.