I'm forwarding the following response to some of the questions that have been raised recently pertaining to farmers' markets, from my colleague Monika Roth who is the Ag Development & Marketing Specialist here at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. Monika has been an advisor to the Ithaca Farmers' Market, has started markets in rural Tompkins County communities, and has advised market organizers around the state and country. Sandy Repp
Hello all, I was made aware of the wide ranging discussion on a downtown farmers' market via colleagues on the ST list. It sounds like many issues are trying to be addressed...from serving low income clientele, better access to local foods, year round market, and downtown revitalization. Markets can be effective in serving many of these purposes. Here are a few comments relating to the issues that have been raised: 1- serving low income clientele -- the IFM is serving low income folks who are eligible for both Farmers Market Nutrition Program Coupons to be spent only on fruits and vegetables and can be redeemed on any IFM market day. Both WIC families and eligible seniors receive the coupons that can only be spent at participating markets. The Tuesday market downtown happens to be the day where we see the most customers redeeming their coupons, this is in part because it is an accessible market to both seniors and the mothers who are eligible for WIC. IFM also takes food stamps on Saturday and Sunday, so we do have a number of folks visiting the "elite" market to spend food stamp dollars on local foods. Additionally, CCETC now has a wireless terminal so that we can take food stamps at any market. We are planning to expand this program to the Downtown Tuesday market, and all of the rural markets we are operating (Groton, Tburg, Danby, and maybe Brooktondale but they can do it without our wireless terminal since they are operating out of the community center and have access to electricity). This is a staff intensive program to launch but we are committed to working with Social Services and Catholic Charities to make it work. Also, CCETC in cooperation with 4 area farms operates a low income CSA share program where we have food stamp and WIC eligible families sign up for subsidized CSA shares. This year we served 60 households and 196 individuals total through this program where the participants paid half the cost of the share of local produce and the farmers were paid the full amount thru various fundraising efforts. Because several of the CSA farms are also at IFM, we were able to make it possible for people to pay for their shares with food stamps at IFM. 2- access to local foods - we are fortunate to have access to local foods via a variety of outlets...over 1000 community residents are members of 12 area CSA farms, we have a farmers' market that operates 3 days a week and serves as many as 3000 people on a busy Saturday, we have rural farmers' markets in Tburg, Groton, Danby, and Brooktondale, we have local foods being sold to over 35 area restaurants, we have local foods being sold to both Greenstar and Wegman's, we have at least 20 farm stands spread all over the county and most of them feature only local products (some buy in from the produce auction in Penn Yan or from other wholesale markets), we have 9 PYO farms where you can get great deals on produce if go pick, and we have at least 20 farms that sell meats directly to neighbors and friends via informal word of mouth arrangements, and we are fortunate that we have a home delivery business that features all local foods. If you want a directory of Local Food Producers, stop by the Extension office for a copy or you can find it on our website... www.ccetompkins.org - Local Foods. It may not always be as "convenient" to buy local foods if you have to go to a variety of outlets to make a meal...but it is certainly possible to eat locally in Tompkins County! We are fortunate that we have so many resources. Is there room for more farmers' markets or farmstands, probably...but it would need to be profitable for farmers as they need to consider how many markets that they can go to. Farmers' Markets are generally not the most profitable means of selling products and for time strapped farmers, it is a challenge to do one more thing. That is why we are operating a consignment stand at the Tburg, Groton and Danby markets, so farmers don't have to be at the market, but we get products from them...and then pay them for what is sold. The farm stands are operated by youth that get paid to do the sales through summer youth programs. At any rate, the question of more markets and other alternatives for sales needs to be considered with farmers in the discussion. 3- Year-round access - many products can be purchased directly from farmers year round...including meats, maple, honey, some produce. The IFM membership has been investigating options to operate during the winter months. We have looked at over 20 indoor sites throughout the city and found none that really would meet our needs so we are somewhat cautiously considering a once a month market at the IFM site. More work will be done on this in the coming months, so stay tuned! 4- Downtown revitalization - if a downtown needs revitalizing, a market alone is not the answer. I am sure the DT partnership folks know this. We have a pretty vital downtown compared to many communities and a market of some sort could be an added asset. IFM has turned down the opportunity to operate on Thursday evening downtown because there are limitations on bringing trucks onto the Commons, costs seemed high at the time, and there is limited vendor interest in another Thursday market after the one at the waterfront on Thursday evening failed--granted there are more people downtown so the customer exposure would be better but it is not clear if customers who come to a concert are interested in a market. Again, more discussion is needed and I am glad to know that Vicki has begun to address some of the issues regarding a downtown market. I hope this adds a bit of clarity to this discussion. CCE would be happy to host a community forum on ways to expand access to local foods...so that we can get all the ideas on the table and start evaluating their potential. Let's plan it for mid-November, stay tuned on a date! If you have any suggestions or comments, please forward them to us... Monika Roth - Agriculture Program Leader, CCETC - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Liz Karabinakis - Community Food Educator, CCETC - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks all for your interest in Local Foods! _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
