Giant Pumpkin from anchoragedailynews on Vimeo.
Since Jean Hamilton from NOFA-VT is scheduled to speak at our first statewide conference in Louisiana, I have been in touch with her during this difficult week up there. She sent me this email:
Our offices were closed yesterday due to the fact that all roads into town were completely flooded. I tried driving in from two of the three directions when I finally got a glimpse of the Winooski river turned sea.
So, I headed into Burlington instead where I spent the day helping farmers at the Intervale cart produce to high ground. A bunch of us filled a cooler with as much as four farms could harvest before the water took their fields, only to realize that the water was definitely going to fill the cooler as well. Luckily, our local school district is very supportive of local farms and invited them to move all their stuff up to a HUGE walk in cooler at the middle school. It was an emotionally confusing day with lots of sunshine, inspiring community cooperation, and oh so much farm food gone bye-bye.
For the most part, people are taking this opportunity to reaffirm the things that matter most, but I know there are some very low spirits among the farmers.Anyway, it was touching to come home, see this email, and realize how many people are thinking of us up here.
What a few months for the natural world in North America. It seems that we are now fully in the next phase of environmental uncertainty and change, and as market organizers, must plan for the eventuality of it coming to us.
Vermont is currently in the grips of the devastation and as a recent visitor, I worry about those farmers and markets that I met while there. I know from experience that the issues they will face over the next few months will be both unique to their place and similar to New Orleans 2005, Iowa 2008 or even the horror of Japan 2011 and so on. Sure we can help and should help, those of us who have seen it, but more importantly:
How can we begin to add some resilience into our organizations so that we can quickly react to our community when they need us? Is funding the top priority after disasters, or is the primary responsibility a series of human responses that offer comfort and solace? And what can be done as a national community of markets to offer help without becoming a FEMA-like casualty of bureaucracy?
Is this a series of audio pieces or maybe even a packet, downloadable for those who are ready to plan?
I am beginning to work on post-disaster planning for markets. If you feel like adding your thoughts, do send me any ideas as they pop up. And good luck to Vermont and to the entire Northeast.
email me at dar wolnik at gmail if you have ideas or details that you want to share.
Grist: too many farmers markets?
Please also see my post below this for my 2 cents…Love to hear some of yours too…
Unfortunately, we in the agricultural biz are just going to have to get better at explaining disasters to our communities…
Record for billion-dollar weather disasters tied – Weather – msnbc.com.
Our national voice for farmers markets, Farmers Market Coalition(FMC) has launched their great Seven Days, Seven Ways campaign to celebrate the many ways markets benefit the farmers, shoppers and community. Take a few minutes to see the list of economic, social and human measurements FMC has used in their report (culled from markets own reports) and make a mental note to visit the innovative markets that FMC honored this year.
As markets find more ways to measure themselves, natural capital will have to be an important category. Yet, the local food system is not always the lowest user of energy (sometimes the lack of centralization in distribution seems to work against us) but of course, we know that will balance out by the green style of shopping, innovative farming, and intentional planning of the market organizers. An example such as the Crescent City Farmers Market which no longer sells plastic bottles of water, but simply filters water and offers it free or sells a reusable cup to those who forget theirs. In many ways, markets should work hardest on the environmental issues of farming and consumerism, because they come the hardest.
Environmental Working Group has released a carbon footprint for meat eaters. It may be worthwhile to link or to print for your shoppers and farmers to read through. As usual, we don’t need to preach but to lead with information and allow people to make good healthy choices.
EWG
One of the most important roles for farmers markets is to encourage this type of innovation and allow the farmer a feedback loop from a diverse group of shoppers.
However, the story doesn’t say where the original grant came from though.
Saw this story over the weekend. I am…troubled.
Here are the current locations for Farmageddon screenings..more should be coming soon.
July 8th – 21st
New York City
Cinema Village
22 East 12th Street
July 17th
Bethlehem PA
Starfish Brasserie
July 22nd – 26th
Portland OR
Hollywood Theater
August 6th
Palm Springs CA
Camelot Theater
August 11th
Tampa FL
Roosevelt 2.0
August 20th
Sedona AZ
Sedona Public Library
Aug 26th – 31st
Chicago IL
Gene Siskel Film Center
Aug TBA
Boulder CO
University of Colorado International Film Series
Sept TBA
Cleveland OH
Cleveland Institute of Art
Thank you for supporting your local farmer!
Kristin Canty
Director, Farmageddon
If you have a large group that would like to put together a screening for your area, you can contact us at Farmegeddonmovie.com. Currently, we are aiming for a short theatrical release so that we can get this issue into the mainstream press. We are also encouraging community screenings in places that don’t have a local theater.
In 2001, CIW launched the Campaign for Fair Food with the first-ever farmworker boycott of a major fast-food company. The national boycott of Taco Bell called on the fast-food giant to take responsibility for human rights abuses in the fields where its produce is grown and picked.
The logic behind the Campaign for Fair Food is simple. Major corporate buyers — companies such as Publix, Ahold, Kroger and Wal-Mart — purchase a tremendous volume of fruits and vegetables, leveraging their buying power to demand the lowest possible prices from their suppliers. This, in turn, exerts a powerful downward pressure on wages and working conditions in these suppliers’ operations.
CIW
This last Saturday the Crescent City Farmers Market hosted another hot summer Marketeer event. The scavenger hunt was lively all day with kids rushing back and forth looking for vegetables and fruits. Just take a second and think about that sentence again for a minute- kids rushing around for good food.
At the end of the hunt, the kids got their very own BPA-free Marketeers water bottle and parents got a reprieve from amusing bored kids for a few hours.
Next week, a seafood cooking display for the kids…
Marketeers display at CCFM
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 