This is a Greenpaper that I wrote while I was with marketumbrella.org (with help from Leslee Goodman, technical writer and editor) on the phenomena of mobile markets. I have had loads of requests for it recently, so am posting it here. It is available on marketumbrella.org’s marketshare page, which remains an excellent site for markets to find resources, as does the FMC Resource Library. The mobile market idea is interesting, but I believe that it is a short term fix that benefits the industrial system of food, rather than extending the reach of the alternative system we are creating. Because, without adding dignity and sharing wealth, nothing will change.
Author: D.W.
Southern Living’s 2012 Foodways Hero of the South: Crescent City Farmers Market Founder and Director
My old boss and ongoing collaborator on farmers markets theory and practice, Richard McCarthy has been honored with the Southern Living 2012 Foodways Hero of the South award. The runner up was the equally brilliant Poppy Tooker. Both are intimately involved with food system work in the South, throughout North America and across the globe. The Crescent City Farmers Markets are the fulcrum of the social justice movement in New Orleans and the two have been the most instrumental people in the scope of that work.
Congrats to them both.
Slavery By Another Name
A very important book, film and blog on the “neoslavery” that existed from Civil War through World War II, including the sharecropper system that continues to influence the way that corporations think of labor as a commodity. This history (including that of the Black Belt in the South) must be known by more Americans and the history of subjugation in every era must be remembered.It matters to all of us as food organizers since shared good health, social justice and dignity are what we are really working towards.
Shareable: A Perfect Match: Economic Gardening & Worker Co-ops
Economic Gardening is a lovely expression of true local investment. So, as the article explains: “Economic gardening programs tend to focus their efforts on nurturing second stage companies: local enterprises already supporting between 10 and 99 employees that have moved beyond the stress of daily survival.”
That concept fits in beautifully with the worker cooperative movement and should be an area that farmers markets put some effort in the next few years-working with their existing vendors and potential ones to build on the ingenuity in products while using cooperative principles to add owners to food and agricultural companies.
Shareable: A Perfect Match: Economic Gardening & Worker Co-ops.
Request for proposals for Farm To Cafeteria conference
“6th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference: Digging In!” Burlington, Vermont August 2-5, 2012
Presented by: National Farm to School Network
Proposal Application Period: February 8, 2012 – March 7, 2012
No proposals will be accepted after March 7, 2012
Tools for Living
A few years ago, a coworker of mine who was one of the best children’s booksellers I had ever encountered, told me she felt “without purpose” in her life. It occurred to me then that many of my female friends had said something similar while in their 30s. I opined that it had to do with the way that modern women had only recently stopped having to do any of the work that fed, clothed or housed them and so had just begun to feel the loss of a particular type of usefulness. It seemed that men had lost track of that a few generations before, but women had only fully moved away from it in the 1970s.
I said then that when young people felt it, something would then happen. Now. I don’t see myself as a seer, but it’s clear that humans want to be useful and work on things they need for their own survival. So, once again, there is a lesson for all of us in the alternative food system-add dignity and fun to the place to those seeking real connections to their own survival.
Tools for Living – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Clustering
Advertising executive Larry Leach talks about how clustering like items or stores can actually help sales. Something market managers need to understand, but also to understand the need for tact when designing their markets…
“In communities where competition is limited we found that people would chose to drive to another community where there was more choice, more variety, and better prices because of competition.”
news
Food and parks
Great pdf on national parks working to add healthy, relevant food choices. These case studies are well done with product sourcing details and partner possibilities. I recommend all food systems organizers read this report and then email a copy to their nearest park ranger…
www.parksconservancy.org/assets/igg-assets/igg-pdfs-docs/food-for-the-parks-report.pdf.
Price comparisons at farmers markets: understanding value and affordability
In the February Farmers Market Coalition webinar, farmer and community and economic development specialist Anthony Flaccavento of Rural SCALE, Inc. will discuss his recent price comparisons between farmers markets and grocery stores in six states, and offer advice on how this data can be part of efforts to reinforce markets’ commitment to equity and affordability. Webinar is scheduled for Tuesday February 7, 2012 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST
Editorial: County should not over-regulate farmers markets
This is from St.Louis which has received new proposed regulations for farmers markets from the state that to the editorial writer sound like “special event rules warmed over.” Very well put.
The need to push back on over regulating market farmers does need to go in hand in hand with a well managed risk mitigation strategy on the markets behalf. In other words, we should run ahead with good, appropriate rules rather than boo from the back.
Tis the season: Michigan Farmers Markets Association hosts 2-day conference as number of markets grow | The Republic
The Michigan Farmers Market Association has been designing a Market Manager boot camp that sounds like a very promising way to train managers- much like the MarketU training that I had begun to design while working at marketumbrella.org. (Rumor has it that marketumbrella.org may be almost ready to start their version in early 2013, so keep an ear out for that announcement by the way.) State convenings can be useful to outside audiences because of the new resources that become available to download after one of these conferences takes place. Presentations from outside experts, case studies from markets and program measurements are often available on their websites.
Michigan Farmers Markets Association hosts 2-day conference as number of markets grow | The Republic.
Just How Risky Is Entrepreneurship, Really? – Bruce Gibney and Ken Howery – Harvard Business Review
I’ve been writing a great deal about entrepreneurs lately. I think it’s because the media is fascinated with them during times of economic downturns, and also because I have been working directly with a lot of markets in the past year. Those markets usually ask me the same type of questions but often, the questions come in cycles. A year ago everyone was asking about tokens and wireless machines, and this year people are asking about rules and regulations – both their own and the ones that government requires them to follow.
My impression is much of this seasonal energy comes from their vendors; I hear from markets in the spring because its time to meet with their vendors or because they need to focus on getting new ones, or because the market wants to institute a new system for vendors.
The issue is there is not only one answer to any of their questions. Most of the time, I need to come to them and gather information about their place and their entrepreneurs to be able to assist them. Really, helping the markets understand their entrepreneurs and the community that they host the market in is largely what it takes to assist a market in beginning a sustainability cycle. So articles such as this one can help any market start to think clearly on their own about their own culture.
Just How Risky Is Entrepreneurship, Really? – Bruce Gibney and Ken Howery – Harvard Business Review.
Slow Food Replies
We’ll assume you have been following the debate between some long-term Slow Food leaders and the current leadership. If not, check out this link to an earlier story on this blog:
If you have, then you are probably ready to see this reply from Josh Viertel, Slow Food USA president.
The Soul of Slow Food: Fighting for Both Farmers and Eaters – The Atlantic.
“Perception, taste and people’s priorities in unexpected contexts”
This seems appropriate for us to think about as we work to change perceptions in the food system. I have found that some shoppers have an elevated perception of the food for sale in our pop up cities (“the food here is so incredible!”), and some think the food must be less than what the supermarkets have (“why not take over a store so you don’t have to be in a parking lot?”) Over the years, I have watched markets become experts at providing the right mood for the proper staging of their vendors products.
“In Washington DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about four minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule. About four minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At six minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At ten minutes, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without exception – forced their children to move on quickly. At forty-five minutes: The musician played continuously. Only six people stopped and listened for a short while. About twenty gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. After one hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music. This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. This experiment raised several questions: In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? If so, do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made… How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?” YouTube
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 