INSHORT: Please concact Jacksonville City Council Members and ask that the Jacksonville Farmers Market be easy for farmers to use and that it keeps its Arkansas Only ordinance.
http://www.cityofjacksonville.net/Elected%20Officials.htm
Peculiar!
That’s how I feel composing this post. Peculiar because I find myself advocating that the new Farmers Market in my home town of Jacksonville be easy for farmers to use. Why I would have to do that just seems peculiar to me, I would hope that when the city of Jacksonville decided to build a Farmers Market their goal would be to build a place that is conducive for famers and the local citizens to use. This would provide a venue that would help distribute fresh market produce, something that Jacksonville could really use. This would seem to demonstrate a proactive approach to the cities health and well being.
One would hope anyway, well it seems that the city is hedging their bet to the determent of the very market the city is building. After several emails and phone calls to the administrative folks detailing the issues that I see with the new market, it seems they have fallen on deaf ears. Here is the content of the email I sent after I talked to the city engineer about the proposed work flow they envisioned for the market:
From: Kelly Carney [mailto:kelly@northpulaskifarms.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 2:48 PM
To: 'Jim Durham, Director of Administration'
Cc: 'Jay Whisker, City Engineer'; 'Gary Fletcher, Mayor'; 'Jody Hardin'
Subject: RE: Jacksonville Farmers Market
Jim,
Thanks for putting me in contact with Jay. He was able to verity the proposed process for Farmers to use when setting up at the Jacksonville Farmers Market.
While I would not begin to understand the procurement process for local municipalities with regards to construction projects, I can advise you that building a market that is easy for Farmers to setup and use should warrant consideration of a design review. In my opinion there is 1 critical and 1 major design flaw with the proposed market.
The one CRITICAL flaw that could keep farmers from this market is the requirement that the sales booth is separated from the farmer’s climate controlled storage facility (van or truck). This creates burdens on the farmer to either attempt to unload his produce in the booth area or have to leave their booth to replenish their tables. Either of these options is not ideal. Farmers who use refrigerated vans or trucks would not risk the potential spoilage by unloading and would have to make many trips to their vehicles there by leaving their sales area unattended. The setup time for coordinating several farmers loading/unloading could create bottlenecks as the market grew in popularity. I am no designer but the resolution of this may be as simple as removing the walls from the current design so farmers could back their vehicles up to the sides and setup their booths accordingly.
The one MAJOR flaw that could keep larger farmers away is that there is not room for larger refrigerated trucks to unload with a 10ft roof. I am not talking about 18 wheelers, but the smaller (9-10ft tall types used by many farmers and local merchants). This flaw could be mitigated if the unload requirement was not in place because the larger trucks could just back to the edge of the roof and work from there.
I have visited only 2 covered farmers markets. Memphis and Little Rock’s markets support farmers utilizing their vehicles for storage as part of their booth.
End of email
The cities solution to this was to say (in the Arkansas Democrat attached article) that the farmers could setup in the parking lot of the market. As a taxpayer in Jacksonville, I find this to be absurd. Hey here’s an idea, lets build a farmers market pavilion and ask the farmers to setup in the parking lot of it.
Now for the Ironic part of this post. The city in what seems to be its desire to sell produce at the market at any cost, is considering removing the current ordinance that requires farmers to only sell Arkansas grown or produced products. The mayor in the attached Leader and Arkansas Democrat Gazette article seems to claim that you can’t have variety and locally grown food at the same time. Well I don’t know if the mayor has been to a farmers market recently, but I guarantee that a successful Arkansas Farmers Only market has more variety that any Wal-Mart Supercenter or Kroger has. At the Argenta Farmers market in NLR, you can find dozens of varieties of tomatoes, green beans, squash, greens, melons and more. The fact is local farmers grow not just the plain vanilla easy to sell produce staples, but much much more. Does the local grocery store have shitake mushrooms or fresh basil or cilantro? Not the last time I checked. When you drill down on the data, you find that it’s the farmers markets that have the variety, not peddlers selling out of state products. Additionally it’s an educational platform that can be used for local schools to teach where food comes from, why certain foods are abundant during certain times of the years and the importance of farmers in the local economy. Why do I have to advocate locally grown to a city who has invested in consultants who tell them of the revenue bleed that happens within its city limits? Do they think that produce peddlers selling out of state produce keep their money local? The oldest manufacturing job that exists is that of a farmer. The money I spend growing my crops is re-circulated many times in Jacksonville. Sam Proffit who helps part time at my farm, pays rent in Jacksonville and buys from local merchants. I am no economist, but it seems pretty simple to me that the more money that is re-circulated in a small town the better the economy for that town becomes. Hello Jacksonville? Are you getting any of this?
The entire country is in the midst of a local foods title wave and we have the opportunity to embrace this. Let’s not miss this opportunity!
Jacksonville should have a farmers market that is easy to use and fair to the farmers. If they do this, while it probably won’t happen overnight, farmers will show up to sell, more new farmers will want to be a part of it and the variety that will be found there will be second to none.
Kristin Griggs who is in charge of the market has asked for feedback about the new market. If you share my perspective on this, please call or email her at 501-982-4171 or kgriggs@cityofjacksonville.net . As of last Friday she said she received 3 emails about this new market, please help in adding a few digits to that number.
Check out these links for more farmers market information:
Wikipedia - Check out the picture of the Durham NC Market -:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers'_market
USDA Farmers Market Fact Sheet:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5080175&acct=frmrdirmkt
USDA Farmers Market Website:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/FarmersMarkets
Go get em Kelly!
ReplyDeleteOur farmer's market in Annapolis has a nice covered building, concrete slab floor and plenty of space for farmers to back up thier trucks with refrige units or not right behind them while booth tables face inward on both sides of the pavillion. There is also safe parking for the customers who back in and out of spaces at a pretty good clip - so parking lot circulation has to be planned pretty well.
The market here is really nice - they have now expanded to three end-to-end pavillions - covered from the sun and able to put up wind blocks at the ends from autumn winds. Our farmers market is available into December and opens in March.
At the ends of the pavillions the space is used for Dept of Ag info booths, or FFA information or anyone else with approved education information.
You are also correct in that we can find great produce there that is not available in the even in the Whole Foods market. Plus by buying from the actual producers, I, as a consumer, can ask questions and also get great tips on food preparation!
The market is so busy, there is no way the seller could leave the stand and go get goods out of the truck across the parking lot - folks would just move on to the next stand and the seller would lose a customer. The stands are pretty much family run so its not like there are a lot of employees to help - soemone has to keep selling and also keep an eye on the money!
Perhaps some of the city planners need to to ride with a few of the sellers to some of the other sites so they can see first hand how the right set up works both for the consumer and the seller... It has to be convenient for everyone to make it work well.
Go get em Kelly! i love our farmers market! I am sure the Jacksonville folks will love thier new one too!
I could not agree more Kelly. Jacksonville should make this farmer & consumer friendly. Supporting local farmers & Arkansas farmers just makes more sense economically & environmentally.
ReplyDeleteIf I wanted produce that was grown out of state or by a corporate grower with God only knows what kind of growing methods, I would only shop at Wal Mart or a grocery chain.
ReplyDeleteWhen I patronize a farmer's market, I want it to be local farmers or at least farmers from within my own state. At least that way I know where my produce is coming from and what type of growing methods they have.
It is wise to make the farmer's market for local, or Arkansas Farmers only. Also the trouble with the storage vans or trucks not being able to be by the sales counter, would cause the food to be kept in a small amount until it is sold or be kept in a larger amount and take a chance it could spoil. (especially in hot weather). The Local Ark farmers need to be able to access the FARMERS MRKT with ease. JWC
ReplyDeleteAny "Farmer's Market" that uses tax money should be for local farmers or in-state farmers only.
ReplyDeleteThe more cash that you keep circulating within your town, the healthier the economy will be. Jacksonville has already lost too many small businesses. Utilize tax payer funds to benefit the local economy.
Jacksonville - you have an opportunity to be truly progressive from the onset of a Farmer's Market. Make your Farmer's Market locally grown & in-state farms only. Build it and they will come.
I checked out the Durham market, its looks fantastic! and is Local only too! Jacksonville take a look!
ReplyDeletehttp://durhamfarmersmarket.com/index.html
A city designating a space for a Farmer's Market implies to me that the produce sold will be locally grown. I do not believe that people take the time to shop at such a market for crops grown in California. As a previous poster said, if an individual wants to buy commercially grown goods they can go to the grocery store. This market needs to stay local. Period.
ReplyDelete