AG week: 12th annual Harvest Dinner preview

News 11's Samantha Byrd with a preview of a dinner for AG week

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - AG Summit week continues with a preview of the Harvest Dinner taking place on Thursday, February 22.

The Harvest Dinner is a special event highlighting the hard work behind the agriculture industry in Yuma, featuring locally grown produce.

This marks the 12th year of this farm-to-table dinner and the theme is Viva Las Veggies.

The annual dinner takes place at Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park and chefs will be cooking for 1,400 people using all locally grown produce.

Chef Jonathan Palacio is the executive chef at "A Cut Above Meal Preparations" and has prepared food for the harvest dinner for the past seven years.

He says he's thankful for the local growers who provide the produce for this dinner.

“He process is, it comes from the field, straight to the table. Normally it goes from produce to a storage unit, and then back to Yuma. So we’re fortunate enough to get it straight from the field,” said Palacio.

The farmers who grew the fresh produce for the meal will be attending the harvest dinner and Eddie Guzman, executive chef at "Takos & Beer" and "Julieanna’s Steak & Seafood", said it’s special to see Yuma growers eat his food from farm to plate.

“Where they’re harvesting, and now being able to see it on the plate, that’s something exciting. That’s not something that every city, every county or every place would be able to do that. Be able to grow and that same day, be able to have it on the plate,” explained Guzman.

Working at this event for his 10th year, Guzman says it means a lot to be able to mentor the next generation of chefs.

“Every meal we give it everything we got to provide the best plating, best quality as we can, techniques and now that we have culinary students as well helping out with this event, being able to give them feedback,” he said.

All proceeds of the dinner will be donated to benefit AG education efforts and scholarships.