Finishing up 2024 work this weekend, to then preparation for supporting organizers amid the bookends of community and chaos in 2025.

But do not expect a deep dive in this post about what may happen in the national political arena around food and farming- at least not yet. Still time to consider plans, still time to replenish….

But in the meantime, here is what I have been saying in the past few months to market organizers that I am in contact with:

Leave blame and shame to other arenas.

Markets need to be centered as places of belonging and connection.

Focus on big goals of system change by asking the market organization to consider:

How is the market moving the dial on farmland preservation? How is that work measured?

How is the market including marginalized people of color in its work- and not just as consumers, but as producers, as advisors, as mentors?

What about rural (if the entity is overtly urban focused), or urban (if overtly rural)?

What would that add to your work and to your market?

Does your team and community know the history of subjugation and of centering whiteness in your area?

Does your team and community even know the recent history of market culture (1970-) in your area? Why these markets were founded? Who founded them? How is the market still honoring that history and still intentional in its design?

What external pressures are limiting your work, and who and what processes might help you change those?

What internal structures are limiting your work, and who and what new processes might help you change those?

How are you preparing for interruptions to farming or markets, whether through civic or climate instability?

What is the big idea for your market that you would like to tackle in 2025?

What keeps getting moved off the to-do list every year?

How can we include more people in our work lives, to bring new voices into the work, but also to make sure we are being held accountable and supported.

Can the urge to wait for “perfect” be ignored in favor of what is possible and practical?

I am already asking myself all of these.

How about you?