“Anti-Food Truck Meddling Ends Up Ruining Miami Farmer’s Market”

I know many markets are using food trucks as a way to get more traffic to markets, especially weekday and evening markets. Based on this and other articles that I run across, it sounds like food trucks should be specifically written into market rules to head off this sort of unwelcome publicity.
In New Orleans, we added a “Green Plate Special” many years ago so a restaurant could come and sell for a month of Tuesdays at one of our tents (it was a 10 am-2 pm market then, now it’s 9-1), as long as they had entrees under 10 bucks, sourced from the vendors when possible and followed the specific risk and vendor rules for serving prepared food.

This added amenity was to help us to draw office lunch traffic and it has done that and much more over the years, although I have to admit it killed off a lot of the prepared food items that the other vendors were selling, but maybe that was a blessing in disguise after all. It made those vendors concentrate on their fruits and veg staples and to stop trying to corner the sandwich business at the market.
And even though it was a difficult start (can I tell you the number of restaurants and chefs that I haunted in those early years?) 99% of those that participated over the years that I ran the markets asked to be able to return.

We wrote guidelines for that spot and asked them to pay double what our regular vendors paid which was still a bargain for what they received: shoppers already amassing needing food and meals, in a market with seating and local producers willing to sell items for the menu. So I recommend that markets think about how to include caterers, restaurants and food trucks into their market, but to do it without upsetting the balance of the market too much.
By the way, this article seems to suggest that this is not a “true” farmers market as most of us across the U.S.  define that term, but is more of a food and artisan market. I know Florida has many of those and they seem to be an appropriate market type and serve their shoppers and vendors well in many case but maybe we need a type to describe the market that offers prepared food as its main offering. As I often say to markets when they ask me if a rule is “okay,” it’s only important that the market can defend and explain their rules to their community. If they can, if people around there understand and most agree, then I say full steam ahead.
Okay, one story about the Green Plate. When we developed the idea, we would talk about how we wanted restaurants like Commander’s Palace to do this (often rated as the #1 fine dining restaurant in New Orleans) and although we asked them in the beginning, they quickly sent their regrets (as they are very polite folks). We were seen as a quirky little food event and hadn’t moved to “beloved institution” phase at that point…
After the levee breaks of Katrina 2005, this 100 year old+ restaurant had some damage, needed time to repair and to the great sadness of many New Orleanians, did not reopen that year. However, in 2006, they asked us if they could come to do the GPS, brought their A-team and spread the word that they would sell quarts of their famous turtle soup and a few beloved entrees. So that first day (right after we ring the bell to open the market) we hear a cheer from their tent and see the celebrated chef and owner holding a ten dollar bill over their heads while saying with great emotion, “Our first sale since Katrina!”
The next week, they brought their Maitre d’to manage the line that went out of the market.

So I’ll never forget how our little market helped this great establishment and how our original dream came true all at once. All because we always thought: “what if…”

Anti-Food Truck Meddling Ends Up Ruining Miami Farmer’s Market – Hit & Run : Reason.com.

Southern SAWG still searching for new executive director

The Southern SAWG Board of Directors has initiated a search for excellent candidates for this key position. The Executive Director will be responsible for leading the organization in its work of empowering and inspiring farmers, individuals, and communities throughout the South to create a sustainable agriculture and food system. Southern residence is required for the successful candidate.
The deadline for applications is July 31, 2013.

For a full job description, please visit their website. The position start date is no later than April 1, 2014.

Southern SAWG – Home.

Cuba Jan 2014

Fact finding mission is in order. Anyone?

Cuba Jan 2014.

The MOON magazine | The Future of Food

This month we gather around the topic of food—a subject everyone loves. Food is the great convenor, the global common denominator, the alchemical substance that pulls parties into the kitchen, makes friends out of strangers, puts flesh on our bones and smiles on our faces.

But all is not well in food land, despite the colorful array of products on U.S. grocery store shelves. One third of Americans are overweight; diet-related diseases are skyrocketing; our food is being designed to addict, rather than nourish; bees are dying; biodiversity is being lost; and modern agriculture is based on massive inputs of petroleum—a finite resource.

The MOON magazine | The Future of Food.

Risk Management Training for Beginning Farmers in Kentucky

A 2 1/2 day workshop focused on business planning, identifying markets, and specialty crop production. Activities will include classroom instruction, a farm tour, and hands-on high tunnel construction experience.

Friday, July 12, 2013
through
Sunday, July 14, 2013

Registration is $65 and includes all meals for the workshop, workshop activities, educational resources, and local transportation.

Free lodging may be available at the nearby Christian Appalachian Project Service

National Center for Appropriate Technology Training and Events Registration | NCAT | The National Center for Appropriate Technology.

State and Network Leader Discussion Series

Calling all State Association and Market Network Leaders: Please register for the FMC State and Network Leader webinar discussion on July 8th, at 4pm EST/1 PST. We will be discussing the Mobile Market App and any challenges that markets and networks face using smart phone technology. Darlene Wolnik, independent consultant to public markets, will be moderating. Please be ready to ask any questions or share comments during the call, or feel free to submit questions beforehand. This is meant to be a discussion among leaders, not an informational webinar.

Last month, several participants called in to the webinar via phone only. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of this technology, those participants were in ‘listen only mode’ and couldn’t speak or ask questions. If possible, join the webinar through your computer AND your phone, for optimum sound and participation!

However, these calls are recorded and notes taken so everyone can share after the call is over. If you are a network leader and have not received the invitation, email Liz at farmersmarketcoalition.org to receive a registration.

Eco-village

Here’s an opportunity to build a sustainable place with significant local food production and public/sales space in its center. I look forward to seeing the choices.

What would you do if you had the opportunity to design and build a new village or city? These opportunities do not come around often, so when one does we have to make the most of it!! The opportunities abound in Christchurch after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

As part of the city rebuild a competition was established. It is called “breathe”—the new urban village project….. an international competition to design and build a new place for living in the Central City.

Introducing the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan from CCDU on Vimeo.

Food & Farm Bill of Rights

This came up on a listserve today. Thankfully by opening that email I was reminded of this page’s existence and reassured by the possibility of a stray elected official doing something right for all Americans.

Food & Farm Bill of Rights | Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

The Dallas Farmers Market is no longer controlled by the city. What happens now?

The Dallas Farmers Market is an interesting version of a public market. Almost a decade ago, I was invited to Dallas for a set of public meetings (along with DC/Fresh Farm founder Ann Yonkers) to help the chefs, farmers and food entrepreneurs get to the next step in reorganizing this market.It seemed then that a lot of competing ideas were on the table and that to get it moving, they would need both deep design options and mission development. This news may signal that they have taken the necessary next step.

The Dallas Farmers Market is no longer controlled by the city. What happens now? (And what becomes of Pecan Lodge?) | City Hall Blog.

Concert to raise money for EBT program

Great idea from the Cobblestone Farmers Market (coincidentally a market that I profiled in my Market Governance paper) about how to fundraise for incentives. This does more than just raise a bit of money; it also explains the deeper mission of the market to the general public and may also shake out more funders for the future.

Concert to raise money for EBT program – Winston-Salem Journal: Tidbits.

Creamery settles dispute with feds

“Randy and Karen Sowers will forfeit $29,500 to the government. U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein accused the couple in mid-April of violating federal currency reporting requirements — known as structuring — by depositing money in increments of less than $10,000 so they would not have to fill out forms required under the Bank Secrecy Act. The statutes are meant to curtail money laundering.
The Sowerses have owned a farm off Bolivar Road in Middletown for more than three decades and have operated it as the South Mountain Creamery since 2001. They have maintained their innocence and said they learned what structuring was only when Treasury Department officials showed up at the farm in late February to question them about the deposits.
The couple deal with a lot of cash at farmers markets, they said, and the deposits totaled similar amounts every time.”

Creamery settles dispute with feds – The Frederick News-Post : Archive.

The Farm Bill Deserved to Fail

“By rejecting reforms and doubling down on mean-spirited cuts in nutrition and the SNAP program, a critical mass of people across the political spectrum couldn’t stomach this bill. The result was a strong ‘no’ vote, leadership looking embarrassed, and the House in disarray.”

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, U.S. Representative from Oregon

Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder

This subject is one that markets must consider as we turn to online accounting and data management systems. Selecting a good offline backup system may be as necessary as finding the right cloud storage or computing system.

Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder | Technology | guardian.co.uk.