farmers markets

The Cooperative Economy | Orion Magazine

I’m returning to the idea of worker ownership and cooperatives on this blog again after reading the excellent interview in the most recent Orion Magazine shared with me by Stacy Miller, freelance researcher and project advisor at Farmers Market Coalition. I believe that the future of community food systems depends on us rescuing traditional work and community structures and creating some new ones too. We cannot expect the small businesses we work with to thrive when being asked to return to the industrial production or delivery systems of the mid 20th century that bankrupted them and helped to isolate all of us before.
Cleveland Ohio was my original home and so I follow the exciting news from there on issues like Evergreen Cooperatives, as well as the many, many other worker-owner hubs across the state (like Athens). I also appreciate that the author points out the battle for local ownership of energy grids in Colorado which has been happening in Ohio for decades, along with the expansion of aggregation for buyers to band together to purchase electricity at the community level. Those kinds of policies are allowing consumers more knowledge of real energy costs and to be actively engaged on issues of expanding renewables. All of these issues in the article show the need for citizen engagement to go beyond the voting booth and cooperatives of all kinds accelerate that action.
So as we discuss the needs for food work in our communities, let’s research and include ideas like cooperatives and worker-ownership right up front.

The Cooperative Economy | Orion Magazine.

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Washington Ag Today talks about farmers markets

These are excellent audio snippets from Colleen Donovan, Washington Small Farms Program Research Coordinator at WSU about some benefits of farmers markets.

Community Impact of Farmers Markets

These are so well crafted that anyone could embed them into their website to show the impact of markets and market farmers, no matter where they are located.

What is most useful about Washington’s work is that it uses the context of organizational capacity to gauge if and how those multiple benefits are being forwarded to shoppers, farmers and the larger community. For reports that offer data without explaining that a volunteer-led effort managed it or that markets are often doing complex projects with part-time labor, I recommend to them that they consider adding it to any future analysis or funder report. The Farmers Market Metrics work we are doing at FMC and University of Wisconsin right now will add that piece into any resources or templates that we design, I promise you that!
In any case, associations in Washington and Michigan are truly the leaders right now in doing excellent analysis and resource development and then spending time sharing as well. (And if it was up to me, I’d give Illinois the rising new star award.)
Colleen did a webinar with FMC in fall of 2013 on the results of this report which is found on FMC’s YouTube site. Yes that is me (talking too low) introducing Colleen:
Link to YT recorded webinar

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Diana Pinckley remembered

The event listed below is to happen this week and was excerpted from my home Crescent City Farmers Market “morsel” as they call their weekly email:
Diana Pinckley passed away in 2012; she was an irreplaceable member of our community and one sorely missed for her leadership and her friendship, both always given easily to so many.
The regard for her found on any market day in New Orleans can and should be multiplied in the thousands to stand in for all of the many initiatives or events that she supported across our region. The people I know through her represent her well: willing to give their time and talent and always remembering to be joyful.
Thanks, Pinckley. I’m honored to raise a glass for you this weekend and pleased to represent farmers markets where we remember and honor our people.

Raise a Glass to Pinckley with CCFM! |
FRESH & LOCAL
Each year we choose one of our local food heroes – a farmer, chef, culinary educator, devoted farmers market shopper or local food system champion – to be the face of our market tokens. This Saturday, we’ll unveil our 2014 market token and celebrate the life of long-time CCFM shopper and supporter, community activist and mentor to so many working to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Diana Pinckley. “Pinckley”, as she was known to close friends, loved mystery novels, bluegrass and the color purple. In addition to her work as a public relations executive, communications strategist and book reviewer, Pinckley shared her time and talent with many New Orleans civic organizations. She was a member of “Women of the Storm” and one of CityBusiness‘s Women of the Year in 2006. She served on the New Orleans Council for Young Children, the Committee of 21, the board of the Foundation for Science and Mathematics Education, the Edible Schoolyard New Orleans task force and was chairwoman of the board of the CCFM. She raised money for WWNO-FM and was an active volunteer at WWOZ-FM. She passed away in September 2012. New Orleans is a better place because of Diana Pinckley. Please join us, her husband John Pope and friends to raise a glass at 10am, tap your toes to the music of Lost in the Holler and celebrate the life of one of the CCFM’s most cherished friends. Purple attire encouraged.

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FMC State and Network Leader Discussion continues…

State and Network Leader Discussion

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What Farm-to-Table Got Wrong – NYTimes.com

Thanks to Richard McCarthy, our Slow Food USA leader for sharing this opinion piece from Dan Barber, the chef and co-owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Stone Barns Center just outside of NYC proper, is easily one of the most important sites we have for learning and piloting good agricultural stewardship in the US: Read more here about their work. In this piece, Chef Barber talks about buyers needing to be more aware of the possible when working with growers, rather than just aware of the obvious. His identification of labels like Farm to Table as being limiting (and maybe even industrial) seems right on to me.

…Diversifying our diet to include more local grains and legumes is a delicious first step to improving our food system. Millet and rye are an easy substitute for rice or pasta. But that addresses only the low-hanging fruit of Klaas’s farm. More challenging is to think about how to honor the other underutilized parts of his rotations — classic cover crops like cowpeas and mustard, which fertilize the soil to ensure healthy harvests in the future.

Today, the best farmers are tying up valuable real estate for long periods of time (in an agonizingly short growing season) simply to benefit their soil. Imagine if Macy’s reserved half of its shelf space at Christmas for charitable donations. A noble idea. But profitable? Not so much. By creating a market for these crops, we can provide more value for the farmer and for our own diets, while supporting the long-term health of the land.

In Klaas’s field, I bent down and ripped off a green shoot of Austrian winter peas. I took a bite. Inedible? No, delicious! Thirty acres of the most tender and sweet pea shoots I’d ever tasted. (Harvesting the leaves would somewhat reduce the amount plowed back into the soil, but the plant’s soil benefits would remain.) In the distance I could make out a field of mustards. Klaas plants Tilney mustard, similar to the spicy green you find in a mesclun mix. I realized I wasn’t just looking at a cover crop. I was looking at a salad bowl.

What Farm-to-Table Got Wrong – NYTimes.com.

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Using mp3s to make the case

I own two very simple recording devices that I use in interviews and sometimes just to get a recording of the sounds of a market when visiting. In my own work, here are the two that I use:

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They are both very useful and not that expensive, but sometimes just using a site that records short mp3s is all that is needed. This came up again this week, as we are hoping to use this technology in reporting to a funder on a project that I am working on and wanted project partners from across the country to record short sound bites. As an example, check out my recording which took 4 minutes to record and upload to my website:
HPMG mp3

And here is the link to the free mp3 site that I used

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Sterling Farms grocery, co-owned by Wendell Pierce, closes after just one year | NOLA.com

A sobering reality for underserved areas.

Sterling Farms grocery, co-owned by Wendell Pierce, closes after just one year | NOLA.com.

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Farmers Market Coalition: Discover You Can 2014 Farmers Markets

Congratulations to Farmers Market Coalition and to all of the farmers markets that will be supporting communities across the country LEARN ways to MAKE and SHARE farm-to-table meals all year long. The 2014 Discover You Can: Learn, Make, Share℠ farmers markets participating in this summer’s food preservation program:

Northway Mall Wednesday Farmer’s Market Anchorage AK
Rural Mountain Producers Exchange dba Fayetteville Farmers’ Market Fayetteville AR
Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles Hollywood CA
Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association San Francisco CA
The Ecology Center Berkeley CA
Orange Home Grown, Inc. (Old Towne Orange Farmers and Artisans Market) Orange CA
Larimer County Farmers’ Market Fort Collins CO
Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers Gainesville FL
Green Market Co-op Pinecrest FL
Forsyth Farmers’ Market Savannah GA
Statesboro Mainstreet Farmers Market Statesboro GA
East Lake Farmers Market Atlanta GA
Farm Lovers Farmers Markets Kailua,Honolulu,Haleiwa,Pearlridge HI
Moscow Farmers Market Moscow ID
Aurora’s Farmers Market Aurora IL
Logan Square Farmers Market Chicago IL
Downtown Evanston Farmers Market Evanston IL
Minnetrista Muncie IN
Carmel Farmers Market Carmel IN
Spin Markket Fort Dodge IA
Community Farmers Market Bowling Green KY
Portland Maine Farmers’ Market Portland ME
FRESHFARM Markets St. Michaels MD
Corey Street Farmers Market Boston MA
Texas Township Farmers’ Market Kalamazoo MI
Rochester Downtown Farmers Market Assoc Rochester MN
Minnesota Farmers Market Association Albert Lea MN
Oxford City Market Oxford MS
The City Market Kansas City MO
Greater Springfield Farmers’ Market Springfield MO
The Webb City Farmers Market Webb City MO
Omaha Farmers Market Omaha NE
Lancaster Market Lancaster NY
GrowNYC Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket Brooklyn NY
Carrboro Farmers’ Market Carrboro NC
Columbus-Tryon Tailgate Markets Columbus NC
Farmers Market Association of Toledo Toledo OH
Countryside Conservancy Peninsula OH
Oregon City Farmers Market Oregon City OR
Phoenixville Farmers’ Market Phoenixville PA
The Food Trust Philadelphia PA
Hub City Farmers’ Marklet Spartanburg SC
Downtown Farmers Market Salt Lake City UT
ChiknEGG Productions, LLC Manakin-Sabot VA
Tacoma Farmers Market Tacoma WA
Kitsap Regional Farmers Market Port Orchard WA
Downtown Fond du Lac Farmers Market Fond du Lac WI
Thiensville Village Market Thiensville WI
Wyoming Food for Thought Project Casper WY

href=”https://www.facebook.com/discover.youcan”>DYC Facebook site

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Farmers Market Legal Toolkit Project

As a member of this team, I’m pleased to share the news of this project being funded:
The Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems received funding to develop a Farmers Market Legal Toolkit (FMLT) and educate market leaders on various legal topics that affect them. The project will be conducted in partnership with NOFA- VT, who will assist them in collecting data on area farmer’s markets. The legal toolkit will include resources in three major areas: governance structure of farmer’s markets, liabilities related to use of EBT/SNAP systems, and general risk management.

Research Awards to Support Rural Communities | National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

(USDA Editor’s Note: The USDA press release mistakenly identified this project as the University of Vermont and the USDA research summary system mistakenly identified it as the University of Arizona, but it is in fact Vermont Law School.)

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2012 Agriculture Census Released | National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

“In releasing the Census, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack called particular attention to beginning farmer highlights, including that 22 percent of all farmers are beginning farmers who have operated a farm for less than ten years and that the number of younger beginning farmers (35 and under) who report farming as their principal occupation has increased by 11 percent since the 2007 Census, to 40,499.

The Secretary also noted that 30 percent of all farm operators are women and that Latino farm operators have increased 21 percent since the last Census to 99,734. He also noted that organic sales from farms increased by 82 percent since 2007 to $3.1 billion in 2012.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, the agency which conducts the Census, highlighted in their release that 2012 set records for both the value of farm sales and the costs of production, with farmers and ranchers selling $395 billion worth of products at a cost of $329 billion, such that an average less than 17 percent of sales became actual income.

.. .They also pointed out the 144,530 farms sold directly to consumers, with total direct sales of $1.3 billion, up 8 percent from 2007.
2012 Ag Census
Census home page

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Just listened to a very informative annual member meeting presented by the leadership of our national farmers market advocate, the Farmers Market Coalition as they shared the work done over the last year, outlined priorities for 2014/2015 and answered questions from the membership.

Here is the link to the recording of the meeting:
LINK

If you are not a member of this excellent organization, do consider it: everyone can be members, not just farmers market organizations:
Join here

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