Market Farming

[Brigette Leach <avalonfarmshomegrown AT earthlink.net>]

Kate,

I agree that everyone should have access to good, nutritious food. I also want to provide some information on what I assume you are referring to when you say subsidies.

The Farm Bill, as it is commonly called, is actually the Food Security and Rural Investment Act. There are ten titles in the legislation; energy, commodity, conservation, nutrition, trade, credit, rural development, forestry, research, and miscellaneous.

About $2 of every $3 in '07 farm bill spending went to food stamp and other nutrition programs...76% up from 68% in 2002. The commodity title spending has been cut more than 60% from previous legislation and currently accounts for about 12% of the total.

Food Security Act spending amounts to $23 per American per year, or about $.06 a day.

We do have problems with access to food in the US, but it is for a variety of reasons. Lack of information as to how to buy, how to cook it after it's purchased, how to store fresh produce in order to keep the nutritional content, not to mention money management. Lack of even having a grocery store in the neighborhood is another.

I make it a point to visit grocery stores wherever I travel...domestic as well as international travel...and I have seen everything from great produce to absolutely pathetic in quality, variety and quantity. I feel fortunate to live in an area of the US where a wide variety of fruits and veggies are produced and I have always had access. But I can take you to grocery stores within 40 miles of my home and farm where the produce section of the store is one of the pathetic ones. I wouldn't eat the stuff that is there either. There is not doubt in my mind that frozen fruits and vegetables would have more nutritional value than what is in that produce section.

At the farmers markets we attend we see both ends of the financial well being spectrum... from those who could well afford the $4.50/lb peaches and not bat an eye...to those on the other end who are just glad to have the extra dollars that the Project FRESH coupons provide. I also get to talk to the young families and the seniors who use EBT (electronic benefits), in Michigan we call it the Bridge Card, used to be called food stamps, and the Project FRESH program coupons. It does break my heart to see people who I know full well do not have the personal resources to eat well, but the resource that is lacking is not only or always money. There is a huge lack of knowledge...we don't teach home economics any more, children don't spend time with parents and grandparents...and yet we wonder why they don't know how to buy, store or prepare food. People aren't born knowing, they have to learn it somewhere and nobody is teaching it. Honestly, I've had people at the farm market who don't know what a cherry is or if it has a pit, which frequently gets referred to as a seed.

So do I think subsidies are the problem? Not at all.

Brigette Leach
Avalon Farms Homegrown
Share of the Farm
www.avalonfarmshomegrown.net



Kate Halstead wrote:

Comment on economically disadvantaged folks and farmers market produce.

It's all about the money, WIC not withstanding.

Several years ago I was helping with a small market in Washington State. An
older woman approached me with tears in her eyes and two beautiful, large
peaches in her hands from one of our vendors. They were huge, organic,
oozing with flavor, and weighed close to a pound apiece. It was obvious from
her dress and demeanor that money was an issue.

She held out the peaches and related how she had picked them out and when
the vendor told her the total owed was $8 ($4.50/lb for early season organic
is not uncommon around here) she was too embarrassed to tell him she
couldn't afford them and handed him all the money she had--$8--her grocery
budget for several days.

She asked me if that was really the price...How could just two peaches cost
$8? What kind of market were we running? I had no idea what to tell her. How
can you explain the real cost of local organic production to someone for
whom $8 represents their food budget for several days? It's impossible.
Needless to say she never returned to market and it's rare for us to see
very many folks with WIC coupons for just that reason. When a case of ramen
noodles costs the same as two peaches and your children have empty tummies
there really isn't a choice.

Talk to your legislators. The amount of WIC funding handed out is
appallingly small considering the need and the cost of good, nutritious
food. The amount of subsidies that goes into that $8 case of ramen noodles
is also appalling. For our tax dollars to be subsidizing such substandard
nutrition is downright criminal. Food industry lobbyists are the biggest
enemy the economically disadvantaged have.

Kate

-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
TradingPostPaul
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 12:25 PM
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] WIC! Wicked!


A question: do you see WIC customers spending any of their own money on
produce? In other words, do they become regular market customers? Do you
feel it's worth the bother? We've noticed they don't at either market where
we sell. We started taking WIC gladly at first. 

paul tradingpost AT lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

  

Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 13:35:42 -0400
From: "Sharon and Steve" <shopkins AT tdstelme.net>
    

To handle WIC the following requirements must be met:

The stand must be a permanent, enclosed structure with a roof, 
dedicated solely to the sale of the farmers fruits and vegetables.

The stand must have defined hours and they must be posted.

The stand must have a difined season.

A full time attendant must be present during hours of operation.

At least 75% of the product offered for sale must have been grown by 
the farmeror under his /her direction. Product not grown by the farmer 
must be
    

purchased directly from another Maine Farmer.

Farmers who redeemed less than $50.oo per year for the last three years 
will not be eligible for authorization.

    

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