Tag Archives: farmers markets

“Seeds of Change” Farmers at Holiday Market

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Editor’s note: The following post is by Heifer International Arkansas Project Manager for the USA Seeds of Change project, Senchel Matthews.

On November 17, 2012, the small community of Hughes, Arkansas, held its very first farmer’s market. Several participants in Heifer International’s Seeds of Change project participated in the special event.

Seeds of Change farmer's market

Residents and volunteers were up before sunrise to start preparations for the day’s big event. The cold crisp air did not stop the Heifer 4-H Youth club, which consists of 16 members, from coming out energized and ready to work.

Seeds of Change farmer's market

As tables and tents popped up and fresh produce and goods were unloaded, I looked on with amazement as the blank canvas of land designated for the Hughes Holiday Farmer’s Market was transformed right before my eyes. Vendors arrived one by one, until all 11 were ready to sell their bounty of fruits, vegetables, handmade soaps, cakes, jams, honey and cupcakes. The “bounce house” and slide, which initially looked like a mass of colorful plastic, magically grew to a size larger-than-life and served as a magnet for children from the community.

The once quiet space was flooded with sweet music from the DJ who guaranteed me that before the day was over many patrons would dance while purchasing their goods and treats. He did not lie. Before I knew it I was engaged in a line dance with residents from the community.

I had the honor of talking with vendors about their fall growing experience and how many of them decided to venture into value-added goods such as turning tomatoes into spaghetti sauce and salsa or transforming zucchini into a delicious fluffy bread. I overheard patrons ask vendors questions about their produce and comment on how delicious the blueberry jam and soybean honey looked.

Seeds of Change farmer's market

A few of the Arkansas Seeds of Change Delta Coalition members came out and showed their support through words of encouragement and purchases. The environment was teeming with activity and chatter. Hughes’ residents came out with their families and left with food and new acquaintances. Before the music stopped and the first table was broken down, inquires where made about when the next farmer’s market would take place. Since the nearest grocery store is 36 miles away, many residents were relieved to have access to fresh goods at the market before the Thanksgiving holiday.

As I packed up my bags of peppers, pak choi, kale, carrots, soaps and zucchini bread, I was approached by a lady who has lived in Hughes all her life. She walked up to me and gave me a hug and said “Thank you! We really needed this.” Little did she know I was the one thankful for having one of the best and tastiest Saturday’s of my life.

Heifer International’s Seeds of Change project works in Arkansas and Appalachia to help low-income Americans through sustainable agriculture.

U.S. Drought Hurting Small Farmers, Too

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The United States continues to suffer worst drought in half a century. Most of the media coverage tells of horrible corn and soybean yields and the rising food costs we’ll be seeing in grocery stores next year.

U.S. Drought map

Often left out of the conversation, however, are the small farmers who grow for local markets, particularly those who can’t afford crop insurance or who raise livestock (which doesn’t have the same safeguards as staple crops). Despite being typically diverse in what they grow (generally a good strategy for mitigating disasters like weather or pests), the lack of rainfall and incredibly high temperatures are taking a serious toll.

One of these farmers is a personal friend of mine. In fact, we first met as volunteers at Heifer Ranch. Katie Short of Farm Girl Natural Foods raises pigs, cattle and chickens. She was recently interviewed by a Central Arkansas newspaper, Sync Weekly, about how the drought has affected her operations. She said:

Spring rains usually give us enough grass; it’s called stockpiling, and it piles up in pasture enough to get through hot dry months. But we did not get that spring rain, so we did not get the spring grass. So that’s been the number one concern — is there enough forage to feed our animals, primarily the cows? We supplement the chickens and pigs with grains, and they’re eating more grain than they would otherwise. With the cattle, we’ve had to make some hard decisions, and we’ve started to cull the herd to preserve grass we have.

And:

Think of the range in this drought; much of the grain fed to chickens and pigs is grown in the grain belt in the Midwest, and they’ve been impacted. I’ve seen some forecast of grain prices, and that’s terrifying. It affects the decisions we make in the long-term of our operation in terms of animals we can support sustainably.

 

Jersey-red angus cross cow

One of Farm Girl's cows. Photo by Adelia Kittrell.

Small livestock farmers like Short are being slammed in all directions as a result of the drought. Lack of rainfall dries out pastures; it’s too expensive to irrigate the fields; they can’t afford the supplemental feed the animals need in the short-term; they’ll end up selling their products sooner and at lower prices; the livestock feed costs for next season will be even higher, as this year’s grain harvests will be so bad; and there is little to no external assistance available (while President Obama’s announcement that the U.S. government would purchase $170 million in meat from farmers and ranchers, it is unclear what the qualifications for receiving this assistance will be) .

This isn’t happening only in Arkansas (though can I say we’re looking particularly bad on the map above?). And it’s not just small livestock farmers. So what can we do about it? Well, this is a great example of when buying locally really can make a difference. Go to your farmer’s market or nearest produce stand. Buy the ugly tomatoes, the smaller-than-desirable ears of corn, the cuts of meat you usually pass over. Meet the farmers, get to know their stories. Ask them how they’re coping with the weather. Offer your sympathy, and buy some of their products.

 

How to Eat Local Year-Round

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It’s November. In my neck of the woods, November signals the end of farmers market season. Not long ago, this put a major damper on my local food diet until spring. But thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I can shop for local vegetables, meats, dairy, baked goods and herbs through the dead of winter.

Here in Little Rock, the Arkansas Sustainability Network hosts the ASN Local Food Club, which has pick-up options on both Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Each week I get an email telling me the market is open for ordering. I head over the the online market and browse the week’s offerings. During the fall and winter, there are still quite a few options available for vegetables, especially those that can be grown in a greenhouse. Fruits range from fresh-picked apples to berries harvested and frozen at their spring or summer peak. The online market is my favorite way to buy local meats all year, since our traditional farmers markets don’t often have many vendors selling meats. I fill up my cart with what I want and then “check out.” You don’t actually pay at the time you place your order, in case a vendor isn’t able to complete the order after all (like if they get snowed in or something and can’t make the delivery). Pick up is a good time to say hi to my fellow locavores–I’m always bound to run into someone I know.

The great news? This isn’t something only done in Little Rock. LocallyGrown.net hosts online farmers markets just like the one I use all over the country.

If you live somewhere without a farm-to-consumer online market, or if you want to expand your purchasing options but still buy from small farmers, you should also check out LocalHarvest and Farmer’s Market Online.

Food Day in the USA: How are you Celebrating?

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hosting US Food Day today. Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable way. The goal of Food Day is to not just raise awareness about the food we put in our bodies but also where we purchase our food.

We’ve discussed before how 1 in 6 Americas are living in poverty, which makes it difficult for them to access healthy, affordable food. Today everyone from parents to teachers to local officials to chefs are joining together to ensure everyone has access to healthy, sustainable food.

Food Day is promoting these six principles when it comes to buying your food:


6 Food Day Principles: 
1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
2. Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness
3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
4. Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms
5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

So what can you do today? Well see if there is an event in your local area you can be a part of today. If not, check out our most recent posts about you can begin to take action in your own life:

- Heifer Ranch Weighs Its Food Waste: You Should, Too
- Eating with the Seasons

What will you do today to be a part of Food Day? Will you visit a local farmers market? Skip the drive-through? Eat a healthier diet of fruit and veggies? Share in the comments below: 

The People’s Farmers Markets

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You know the scene: women in yoga pants cruise between tables of heirloom tomatoes, and couples walking their miniature dogs load canvas bags with local produce while a street musician hammers away on steel drums. You can find scenes like this easily these days as people latch on to the benefits of eating fresh foods grown sustainably. This urban, upper-crusty Saturday morning pastime isn’t the only kind of farmers market thriving these days, though.

As the economy continues to sputter along, people in rural America are tending gardens, preserving what they can’t eat right away and sharing or selling the rest. Unlike with urban farmers markets where prices are often higher than in grocery stores, rural shoppers are looking for bargains.

The New York Times reported recently on this trend, noting that garden stores are reporting more business and many community gardens have waiting lists for plots. Gardeners with surplus unload the extras for a good price, and buyers freeze, can, dry and pickle to make their produce last.

I saw an example of this recently in Hughes, Ark., where a city-sponsored community garden brimmed with tidy rows of corn, perfectly-staked tomatoes and sweet peppers that looked like Christmas ornaments. Volunteers worked together on the garden and shared the harvest with all takers. City leaders dream of expanding the community garden enough to produce excess that can be sold.

This story is a good reminder that even though locavorism is trendy these days and bank-breaking fruit and vegetables are easy to come by, old-fashioned gardening doesn’t have to be pricey and can, in fact, be quite practical. Of course, Heifer project participants in the United States and around the world know this already.

Growing For Market

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After we visited the agroecology market in Loja, Ecuador, we went to visit the farm of one of the vendors participating in the project. Maria and Rafael Paccha had a very diverse peri-urban farm with vegetables, fruit trees and an entire greenhouse of strawberries.
Maria Paccha in her vegetable plot.
Part of Heifer’s work with the Paccha family and others has been to help local organizations, like the Agroecological Network, establish and maintain farmers markets such as the one in Loja. In the past, the practice was largely for farmers to sell their produce to an intermediary (this was a common theme throughout our entire visit in Ecuador). Doing so, however, gives the farmers a much lower profit margin than what they can earn by selling directly to consumers in the market.

Another piece of the work is connecting these agroecological producers with the fishing communities to allow for the cross-selling of goods, thereby diversifying the diets of both groups.

Using inter-cropping and drip-tape irrigation helps make the most of the small farm’s land.
Strawberry greenhouse.
There seems to be a common belief that you can’t grow
 good strawberries without chemicals.
This basket would like to argue otherwise.
Rafael Paccha


It was interesting talking with the farmers, asking them what they needed to succeed. Out of this group, the most common answer was more land. More land so they could grow, sell and earn more. The Paccha family raises their produce on about .15 acres. What they’d like is to have six acres or so, which would not only allow them to raise more produce for the market, but also to have a cow and other small livestock. Another serious need is more water for irrigation. A significant hurdle to owning more land and building a higher capacity irrigation system is access to credit through traditional banks. Currently, financial institutions in this area do not recognize a diversified family farm as an investment opportunity. Were the Paccha family raising a mono-crop of corn or wheat, for example, they would be more likely to secure a loan to purchase additional land. The irony here is that an agroecological farm is much less vulnerable to external risks than a monoculture farm (pests, disease, etc).

A Visit to an Agroecological Fair in Loja, Ecuador

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When traveling abroad, I’ve lately found I prefer not to do too much research into where I’m headed. I like going in with as open a mind as possible, with few expectations. Something that has struck me on this visit to South America is how similar certain things are, not just with the United States, but with my specific home, Little Rock, Arkansas. This past Sunday, my colleagues and I flew from Quito to Loja, Ecuador. Our first stop was a farmer’s market, where we visited with Heifer participants and sampled their goods for breakfast.

Heifer participants wear green aprons and sell under green tents,
 distinguishing themselves from the sellers up the hill,
who sell produce that’s “conventionally” grown and not always local.

The market is divided into two sections. The first is the agroecological market, which is where Heifer Ecuador participants have booths. (The term “agroecology” has it’s own definition, but for the most part, consider it about the same as “organic.”) All of the products sold under the green tents are grown without chemicals and using practices that care for the environment.

Oscar Casteneda sampling some milk bread.

The second section of the market, however, is where “conventional” products are sold. This reminded me of our main farmer’s market in Little Rock. Some of the products may be local, but many are imported, out of season, and likely have been treated with any number of agri-chemicals.

My breakfast of milk bread and colada de sambo
(a warm beverage of milk, brown sugar and the pulp of some sort of gourd).

Our farmers who sell here come from near and far. Some grow in urban or peri-urban gardens, while others must pay for a truck to bring their produce in from their rural farms. We visited farms in both situations, and I’ll be sharing those soon.

Eggs, cheese and produce.

We had the chance to ask some of the customers of the agroecological market why they shop there. Some say price (unlike in the United States, prices for agroecological produce in this market are less than that of the conventional produce up the hill), but many more recognize the health and environmental benefits of organic produce.

Pierre Ferrari finds Heifer’s logo.
More produce! A head of lettuce costs $0.50 (wish I could bring some back).
Heifer Ecuador staff member Diana Guayllas holds up a jicama.
Granadilla, relative of the passion fruit.
That’s not punch in the cup; it’s called horchata tea,
and it’s made with the ingredients you see right there on the table. 

This has nothing to do with Heifer,
 but I shot this out the van window on our way to the market,
and I just had to share.

Farmers Markets

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Where do you go to get fresh, healthy food? With spring in full swing, farmers markets are sprouting up across the country. In this clip from the Nourish Video Encyclopedia, chef Bryant Terry, organic farmer Nigel Walker, healthy food advocate Anna Lappé, and others celebrate the joys of the farmers market.

Discover tips for shopping wisely on the Nourish website. Stay tuned for more selections from the Nourish Video Encyclopedia, a collection of short films that explore the story of our food.
Nourish is a national educational initiative designed to open a meaningful conversation about food and sustainability, particularly in schools and communities. Explore Nourish at www.nourishlife.org. Follow Nourish on Twitter and Facebook.
Be part of the food revolution. Nourish yourself. Nourish the world.
Nourish is a program of WorldLink, a non-profit organization dedicated to education for sustainability. Heifer International is a sponsor of the Nourish initiative.

Withering Interest in Some Urban Farmers Markets

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The Chicago Tribune has a story out today about how a few new farmers markets in low-income and ethnic communities are struggling. “They’ve learned that offering fresh produce and educating people about the environmental advantages of locally grown food is not necessarily enough to sustain a farmers market,” reporter Kristen Mack wrote.

Organizers of these markets, set up in working-class neighborhoods and “food deserts” where healthy food is nearly impossible to find, are trying out lots of tricks to get some staying power. Some of them are accepting food stamps, some are opening on Sunday rather than Saturday to catch the church crowd. Vendors have learned that exotic produce doesn’t move like the fruits and vegetables people already know how to cook. Hopefully they’ll pick up a few more tricks so they can stay in business and keep fresh, local foods available in communities that wouldn’t have access to them otherwise.