10 Year Anniversary

I don’t want to dwell on August 29, 2005, because

a) the disaster here was much longer than that one day with the levee breaks flooding the city for days and weeks after, followed by  decade-long paternalistic and corporate disaster capitalism that defies easy description that we are still battling and

b) the decade so far of work to rebuild has been alternatively so exuberant and dismal that it cannot be remembered without sudden and troubling mood changes.

My old Market Umbrella boss wrote a 3-part piece on it for National Geographic , which may be useful for many to see what the market did to recover, although I find the outline of his recollections different enough from mine as to not represent my reality entirely. Still, he traces the decision-making that he and the Board had to do (for the systems and tactics he and I then designed and that I managed on the ground) so very well and offers some first-rate political and social perspective which is no surprise to those who know him.

The video we made as part of the Go Fish series that I produced and edited for Market Umbrella and is a small visual slice of that exuberant return. Since the market world represents the town square for most of us, it is no surprise that it served that purpose admirably well even in those dark days of 2005.
I watched this video again a few years back when showing it in Toronto for my farmers market colleagues and was surprised at the overwhelming emotion that welled up even then. I remembered the preparation for the market return as an exhausting month of work but a sweet one; one with a lot of heartbreak behind it and still in front of us to go through. Still, I love this video and all of the Go Fish/Go Market series on YT and hope you do too.
The disaster our region suffered was more widespread than usually reported, and so I ask that you reach out to any Mississippians or coastal Louisiana folks that you know and remember them as well this week. The destruction of the Gulf Coast was directly related to the hurricane and so this day is particularly difficult for them, even more than for most New Orleanians as our big disaster really started on Monday. Their recovery was not reported on by many or funded by Hollywood stars or rock musicians or held together by hundreds of thousands of volunteers as ours has been; additionally, the rebuilding there was delayed by the impact of the 2010 BP oil spill which was as devastating to the communities bound by coastal waters as any storm. Those of us in New Orleans love and admire our coastal communities and remain ready to do whatever needs must be done to repair all of it, not just our city streets and homes.

Lastly, let me say thank you once again to my food and farming friends and colleagues who have offered every kind of support over the last 10 years. As our founding Slow Food Leader and food maven Poppy Tooker told us then,”By being part of the food community, you are guaranteed help.” She was so right.

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Expo Milano 2015

US food rocks the Expo
Visitors enter the 42,000-square-foot barn-like structure on a wide ramp built from the reclaimed Coney Island boardwalk, which was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. One side of the building is a living vertical farm the length of a football field which is harvested daily. Inside, a self-guided tour of interactive kiosks features videos of farmers, chef activists, research scientists and policy makers all speaking to the Expo’s theme of how it’s going to be possible to safely feed a population of 9 billion in the year 2050.

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Milan Southern Agricultural Park

During the Milan Expo 2015 the attention will be mainly focused on the Milan Southern Agricultural Park (Parco Agricolo Sud Milano), the “park of Expo 2015”, featuring 47 thousand hectares and representing one of the biggest areas aimed at feeding itself and the planet. An amazing space that coverss almost fifty per cent of the provincial area around Milan where historical farms, agricultural productions, natural, cultural and environmental resources are gathered and they might become the Biosphere’s Reserve. That means being awarded with the International praise from UNESCO for the keeping and protection of the environment within the program “Man and Biosphere”.

USA rocks Expo Milano 2015.

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How Farmer Vendors Say Markets Can Help Them-AFT/FMC survey

To echo what my colleagues at FMC said in their original post accompanying the survey results, I recommend that you click through the answers below to our website and read the comments from the respondents. Do remember that the answers may not be drawn from a truly representative group of vendors and are a very small sample, but still, it is likely that each market has vendors that would agree with the majority of the statements.

Most of their comments have to do with the writing and enforcement of rules, the request for governance to be stable and for market managers having skills related to retail management, such as advertising know-how, location management expertise and product awareness. In all cases, these skills are possible for market staff to acquire, but won’t necessarily come from experience. In other words, it is time that professional development becomes a benefit/requirement of market management.

In order for markets to thrive in a competitive world full of external pressures and internal tensions, it is my contention that market managers (and boards!) who ask in other professionals to assist the market, who reach out to their peers regularly and who work constantly to balance between the vendors, the visitors/shoppers and the larger food/civic community’s needs are more likely to succeed. Professional development may mean attending a conference, taking a class on marketing, or researching product reach. However it is done, it should be built into the market managers year, even if it is only an hour or two a month.

I fully expect to get replies from managers telling me that they already work hours and hours without pay, have a list of to-dos longer than their product list or have a board that doesn’t care about their development. My reply is I know that all of these issues truly exist in real time for managers; I was one of those hard-working managers at one time and finding time to increase my skills was very difficult, but I did it. I did it partly by spending the time to find more volunteers, training them to do important work and at times, even writing my own job review in order to indicate where I needed help. I also built systems so that I didn’t have to explain how to do something each time or have to spend time recreating each time what needed to be done (designing a system for setting up the Welcome Booth that included lists of what and where items went out is an example of that as was a map of where to do outreach when flyers or postcards were ready to go). I  wanted to stay in the field and so I looked for ways to become better at what I did and to become a professional market leader.

In turn, boards have to add benefits or a living wage so that they can retain trained market managers. As many experts have noted, what employees truly want is some autonomy, flexibility and appreciation.They want to feel that they are part of a purposeful place and that innovation is allowed, even encouraged and rewarded. Where better to build all of that in then a market?

I’ll also say that many advocates for markets (like FMC and AFT) also understand that the capacity of markets must be increased and that means that the job of market manager has to become a respected and long-term job. Check out this webinar about a wonderful survey of market vendors done by Colleen Donovan of Washington State University, Small Farms Program that gave excellent input on how to use the data to increase market expertise. It is also a big reason why FMC is investing in the Farmers Market Metrics project, so that good data about markets impacts can be shared and will encourage more investment.

What we know is that the number of volunteers and part-time staff must increase to assist managers and that the best way for a board to help management is to write and enforce clear and fair rules and to raise and manage money. We want markets to keep growing and to do that, management has to understand every nuance of their market and of the larger system to make their market resilient.

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“To better understand the evolving needs of farmers markets and the farmers who sell at them, American Farmland Trust and the Farmers Market Coalition teamed up with C2It Marketing to complete a national survey of farmers who sell at farmers markets.  Read the FMC posts here.

Over 550 farmers who sell at farmers markets nationwide responded to the survey, providing valuable feedback and ideas that should help farmers markets improve their operations. Despite the large number of responses, keep in mind these responses may not be representative of vendors from your local farmers market.

FMC recommends that markets review the issues farmers highlight in this survey, and then ask their own vendors about what would make the market more successful. Please also note that the views expressed by the survey responses do not necessarily reflect the views of FMC.

What Respondents Requested from Markets

When asked, “What could be done to help you and your farmers market be more successful?”, many farmers noted several areas where markets and supporting organizations could make improvements. The following answers provide a snapshot of the prevailing issues. Click on the links to view details on each suggestion:

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Qualitative Data

in case you think data collection is dreary, check out what this market did for National Farmers Market Week. These kinds of quotes can liven up reports to your funders, impress municipalities and rejuvenate vendors.
Think of how you might ask a specific question about a product (“what do you do with your creole tomatoes?”) or have visitors describe if and how they have ever brought market food to someone else (“I bring bread once a month to my neighbor who loves it”) as other ways you can use this method.
Visible collection and use of visual data can make the market seem proactive and engaged with their community.

Why do you love #comofarmersmarket? #moretomarket #farmmktwk

A photo posted by Columbia Farmer’s Market (@columbiafarmersmarket) on Aug 11, 2015 at 9:40am PDT

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Two new laws in LA help farmers

News from Recirculating Farms Coalition:

“Two new bills in Louisiana that support bringing more good food to communities through local agriculture are now law. The first creates a “farm-to-school” program, which allows Louisiana public schools to communicate directly with local farmers to buy food. Previously, for any food item over $25,000, schools had to go through a complicated and difficult public bidding process, which often left out local farmers because they could not participate, be it due to lack of time or technology. Now, schools can connect with farms for any items under the federal minimum purchasing threshold, which is currently $150,000! This will bring more fresh local food to Louisiana schools. As over 65% of students in Louisiana public schools qualify for free or reduced price meals, the new law will promote providing children with fresh food who may get their primary meal, or even most or all of their meals at school.

Pepper Sarah EbonyThe second new law is an urban agriculture incentive, which allows Louisiana cities to reduce taxes on land usedRooftop hydro towers with herbs smaller for farming. The hope is that more landowners will be motivated to allow use of their properties for urban agriculture and share the tax savings with farmers by leasing at more affordable rates. The intent is to increase access to affordable land in cities for farming and thus also increase availability of local fresh food.

Marianne Sen Thompson and Katie cropRecirculating Farms Coalition, working with students from Loyola New Orleans Law, various farmers, food advocates and especially the National Farm to School Network and Louisiana Farm to School Alliance successfully moved these 2 very important concepts through the Louisiana Legislature with Rep. Ebony Woodruff and Sen. Francis Thompson. On August 1st, with unanimous approval of the House and Senate, they both became law.”

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Crew Members Sample Leafy Greens Grown on Space Station | NASA

NASA is maturing Veggie technology aboard the space station to provide future pioneers with a sustainable food supplement – a critical part of NASA’s Journey to Mars. As NASA moves toward long-duration exploration missions farther into the solar system, Veggie will be a resource for crew food growth and consumption. It also could be used by astronauts for recreational gardening activities during deep space missions.

…Having something green and growing–a little piece of Earth–to take care of when living and working in an extreme and stressful environment could have tremendous value and impact.

“The farther and longer humans go away from Earth, the greater the need to be able to grow plants for food, atmosphere recycling and psychological benefits. I think that plant systems will become important components of any long-duration exploration scenario,” Massa saidCrew Members Sample Leafy Greens Grown on Space Station | NASA.

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Responsive Web Design for Non-Profits’ Customers

The average person worldwide has five social media accounts and spends an average of 1 hour and 40 minutes browsing these networks every day on any number of devices. Therefore using what is termed “responsive web design” is vital. It means that the information is optimized for whatever device it is being seen on with a minimum of scrolling or resizing.
The site Non-Profit Tech picked three sites offered by non-profits that they think are especially good at this and I think additionally that one of the three, Pittsburghkids.org, is just a very useful site for markets to view. Simply designed and easily navigated, it offers a lot for those new to the site and yet has easy-to-find shortcuts to get into the site if you are a return visitor.
Nice to hear in the original story that non-profits were the pioneers of the use of social media, adding content and varied ways for their community to see and reach them long before businesses bought into the idea.

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“…the pesadilla of the American dream”

“I acknowledged that farm workers were seldom given the spotlight, I saw this as an opportunity to honor the hard work of my parents, and farm workers all over the country,” Gonzalez told ATTN:. “They are the hardest working people in the world, and hardly ever are given the dignity and respect they deserve. I needed them to see, this wasn’t simply my success, this was a success of 22 years in the fields, this was all them.”

parents

These Incredible Photos Prove What the American Dream Really Looks Like – attn:.

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National Farmers Market Week: August 2-8, 2015

Isn’t it great that the best way to celebrate this is to visit a farmers market?
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Farm to Fable – San Diego Magazine – July 2015 – San Diego, California

well. This article linked below is a shot over the bow to those using the farm to table purely as marketing, and in some cases, using farmers names without having a regular relationship with them. The lack of clarity as to what Farm To Table means is one issue that local activists should shoulder; it should not be a single definition globally, but the rules for level of transparency in that process should be the same everywhere.

Farm to Fable – San Diego Magazine – July 2015 – San Diego, California.

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A Taste of Plastic

A recent study found that people ingest as many as 11,000 plastic particles per year in their food, and that those who eat a lot of seafood may be consuming much more than that.
Orion Magazine writer Jourdan Imani Keith is a playwright, naturalist, educator, and storyteller whose work blends the textures of political, personal and natural landscapes to offer voices from the margins of American lives. In the latest issue of Orion Magazine she gives a personal view about ingesting particles of man-made items in seafood:

My tongue has not yet been able to discern cosmetics in my curried mussels or plastic pearls in my oysters, but in 2013 researchers in Belgium at Ghent University found that microplastics are present in food consumed by humans. The study showed that some Europeans eat as many as eleven thousand plastic particles per year. Coastal Salish tribes, Asians, and Asian Pacific Islanders in Washington State, and all who eat lots of fish and seafood, like I do, may also be consuming more microplastics than others. The potential risks for human health have not been studied. We don’t tend to think of plastics as part of our diet, but by the time they make it to our plates, it’s hard to say they haven’t become part of our food web.

A Taste of Plastic

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“Creative placemaking? What is it that you do?”

Great article linked below along with a salient excerpt about placemaking which is something all market organizations should know a little about.

We essentially believe that a creative placemaking project needs to have four basic parts:

First, the work needs to be ultimately place-based, meaning that there is a group of people who live and work in the same place. It can be a block, a neighborhood, a town, a city, or a region, but you need to be able to draw a circle around it on a map.

Next, you need to talk about the community conditions for all of the people who live in that place and identify some community development change that that group of people would like to see: a problem with housing that needs to be fixed; an opportunity with a new transportation infrastructure that needs to be seized; a problematic narrative around public safety that needs to be changed. (There are ten categories of community development changes that we currently track.)

Third is when the “creative” comes into play: how can artists, arts organizations, or arts activity help achieve the change that has been articulated for this group of people?

And, finally, since these are projects that explicitly set out to make a change, there needs to be a way of knowing whether the change has happened. Some people call this “project evaluation.” We simply say it is important to know when you can stop doing something, cross it off your list, and move on to the next thing.

"Creative placemaking? What is it that you do?" | ArtPlace.

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Local Food Research & Development marketing specialist (research) posting; SHORT deadline!

Here is the link to the USDA jobs vacancy announcement for up to 3 agricultural marketing specialists (research) that was published this morning and closes next Thursday.  In addition, please note that applications are being capped after the first 40 received!!
https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/410631100

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