Author: D.W.

Jacksonville Farmers Market reaches out to low-income communities

News story with new Florida Ag Commissioner talking about markets, machines and incentives.

Posted: April 4, 2011 – 11:40pm


By David Bauerlein

On Monday, state Agriculture and Consumer Protection Services Commissioner Adam Putnam visited Glennette Produce and other vendors who have embraced the card-swipe machines. Putnam said the machines enable people in low-income neighborhoods, where grocery stores are scarce, to use the farmers market for the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables.

That in turn helps Florida farmers by giving them a bigger market for their products, he said.

Putnam didn’t make any announcements during his visit. He said he mainly wanted to learn more about how the Jacksonville Farmers Market operates.

“They’re really got a lot to teach us as we ramp this up on a statewide basis,” he said. “It’s part of a larger effort of nurturing our small farmers.”

He said the state helped a farmers market in Miami form a partnership with a private foundation that has a goal of improving the health of low-income people by giving them access to fresh produce. In that partnership, the private foundation will match on a dollar-for-dollar basis whatever a Florida resident spends at the farmer’s market using the state’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

For instance, a resident who spends $10 using a SNAP card would be able to purchase an additional $10 of fresh produce because of the private foundation’s support.

Putnam said he wants to help establish similar partnerships with other farmers markets in the state, including Jacksonville.
Entire story at:

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Open-air market dot org

I just posted some information on the street vendor project in New York, so thought I’d better also send this link for the Open Air Market Network. The site bills itself as “The World Wide Guide to Farmers’ Markets, Street Markets, Flea Markets, Street Vendors, and the Informal Sector.”
open air market network

It has not been updated in some time, but still has loads of pieces from all over the world and all type of markets to check out. Dr. Morales, who many markets know from conferences and listserves among other places, is one of the folks behind this site and a few others sites like Streetnet.org. His work is researching and writing about the informal networks of vending and is a must for any market organization to know as a reference. Just like our friends at Projects for Public Spaces, he links our markets to academics, city planners and social scientists. I know he is currently working on a book covering how markets take part in furthering community. I look forward to that coming out.

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Street Vendor Project in NYC

As many of our cities and towns expect that the the farmers market movement will be formalized more and more for government needs, it helps to find others who came before us to know how to handle these interactions. The Street Vendor Project in NYC is an excellent example of how good information and recommendations can be offered to both the vendors and the city while recording the important history of street vending. Amazing site.
Streetvendor.org

I particularly like the brochure designed in partnership for this project that actually hangs on my cubicle wall. This is a 2-sided brochure that explains a whole bunch of information with graphics. There are policy recommendations for the city, logistical details for the vendors and case studies for the researcher. Designer Candy Chang is one of my favorite graphic people and this piece has led me to many of her others.


Here is a link to get your own copy:

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Food policy conference offered by CFSC

The leading national voice for food security policy and related resources, Community Food Security Coalition, is doing a policy conference at their home base of Portland, Oregon.
With the 2012 Farm Bill looming, this is a great chance to make sure farmers market issues are on the table. So if you go to network or present, promise you’ll take good notes for the rest of us and then share.

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New Handbook Shows Farmers Market Operators How to Participate in SNAP

Last summer, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), in collaboration with the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), released the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at Farmers Markets: A How-To-Handbook. The handbook assists farmers’ market operators and direct marketing farmers in determining the steps necessary to become authorized to participate in SNAP and, subsequently, the steps related to managing participation. It includes tips and guidelines on how to make the program work successfully for vendors and customers. The handbook also features a list of resources, a glossary of important terms, and several case studies from farmers markets that have successfully implemented EBT technology. AMS’s USDA Farmers’ Market Directory is available online to locate farmers’ markets that accept nutrition assistance program benefits.

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Study on health for community or allotment gardeners

From the Netherlands:

Background

The potential contribution of allotment gardens to a healthy and active life-style is increasingly recognized, especially for elderly populations. However, few studies have empirically examined beneficial effects of allotment gardening. In the present study the health, well-being and physical activity of older and younger allotment gardeners was compared to that of controls without an allotment.

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600,000 for incentives

BRIDGEPORT, Conn., March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Wholesome Wave, a Connecticut-based, national nonprofit organization dedicated to nourishing neighborhoods across America by increasing access to and affordability of healthy, fresh locally grown food, announced today that it has received a $600,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente. The funding will be used primarily to support its Double Value Coupon Program (DVCP), which provides fresh food incentives to encourage low-income consumers to increase their purchase of nutritious produce through local farmers markets.

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Institutional Food with Taste — Mindful Living — Utne Reader

Story about the institutional world coming closer to our alternative one.

Institutional Food with Taste — Mindful Living — Utne Reader.

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NYC: grocers vs. green carts?

Important story on Green Cart expansion in NYC and how some storefronts are reacting:

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FMC launches PDF versions of their FAQs.

Recently, FMC and the Wallace Center developed the Market Managers FAQs as PDF documents, giving market managers more flexibility to use and share this relevant content. The PDFs are broken down into seven categories:

* Market Fundamentals
* Market Policies
* Market Staff
* Insurance, Liability, and Regulation
* Market Growth, Outreach, and Evaluation
* Extending the Market Season
* Increasing Market Access

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PPS announces Cleveland as the location for 2012 International Public Market Conference

Hey market folks, this is a great conference to meet a varied group of market organizers, public space activists and decision makers. Cleveland will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of their iconic West Side Market and will also be able to show off many great projects focused on increasing markets, regional food and public space uses during the conference.
PPS will co-host the conference with the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation as the organization dedicated to developing, preserving, and promoting Ohio City, the neighborhood anchored by the West Side Market.

Join the PPS email list to get information about this conference and check out the “Green City Blue Lake” website to see what Cleveland has been up to lately.

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Boulder

CFMA members write up some things that they would like to chat about over lunch

I am heading back from Boulder and Fort Collins, up there in Colorado. Was invited to present at the 2011 Colorado Farmers Market Association conference by Cindy Torres, one of my fellow Community Food Security Coalition board members.

Cindy Torres (Dir-CFMA) and Jenn Ross (Boulder Mkt Mgr, CFMA Brd member) out for some tapas with me in Colorado.


Unfortunately, no nearby markets to see this time of year, but more “winter markets” (as they call them in Colorado) are coming all of the time. The conference was held at CSU in Fort Collins, lovely place.
Market managers, extension folks, graduate students, and organizers thinking about starting a new market all attended. I did a SNAP briefing using the FMC “Real Food, Real Choices” report and some other helpful information about Colorado SNAP supplied by Stacy Miller of Farmers Market Coalition a few days before.
The SNAP briefing and discussion was 2 hours long and very lively. I think about a half dozen markets attended, along with some new market organizers.
The next day the conference started in earnest. Loads of information was presented to the 70-80 people that attended. Very in-depth, useful information from state departments and county health folks, as well Colorado Ag (Market Maker) and an update on a regional assessment report.
I also presented in the afternoon about the 4M framework and measurement; I was followed by Manage My Markets’ Kathleen O’ Malley, who sparked a lot of interest in their back office product.
The state association is doing first-rate policy work on the state level as well as in many counties. Every agency spoke personally of their connection to Cindy and their deep trust in CFMA’s work. From evolving food handling guidelines for small-scaled vendors to beginning market and farmers programs, the expansion of SNAP and WIC voucher programs and their insurance program, all were discussed.
What is clear to me is the need in Colorado for this association to continue to grow their capacity to serve their members and to be present for the many challenges that are coming. I wish them great luck.
And thanks for the first-class lunch…

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