Washington County Market Podcast

The Washington County Farmers' Markets, located in Potosi, offers the community a wide array on fun while shopping at the market and some wonderful home-grown goodness.

I've visited this market a couple of times and have always appreciated the community support of the market and the knowledgeable vendors at the market.

Julie Harker with Brownfield made a recent market stop and talked to a few of the vendors about growing a garden for market and what makes this market so special.

Economic Development and Grant Writing Workshop

Last Friday I went to St. Louis for a workshop hosted by Senator Claire McCaskill. The morning sessions were presentations by various agency regarding various grant opportunities. Federal Agencies such as HUD, USDA, and the EPA, as well as Missouri DNR, DHSS and Economic Development. There were also presentations on small business resources and opportunities from the Small Business Administration and the US Department of Commerce. In the afternoon there was a training session for grant research and writing. One of the main things that I took away from the day was the number of free resources available to small businesses. Great opportunities for business planning and guidance through programs such as SCORE and the Small Business Development Centers. Check it out and give them a call.

New Roots for Refugee Program Helps Women Learn to Grow Food for Local Farmers Markets

If you haven’t heard about the New Roots for Refugees I came across a recent story in the Kansas City Star that highlights the concept behind the up and coming program. New Roots for Refugees is a training program designed to help refugee women develop the skills necessary to sell at farmers markets, like the Farmers’ Community Market in Brookside. The three-year program is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas and the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture manage the program.

(PHOTO: From the New Roots for Refugee Blog, Pay Lay and volunteer Susan work together at the farmer's market.)

The woman highlighted in the article, Aye Aye Nu sells produce alongside other refugee women from Burma, Somalia and Burundi at the Farmers Community Market in Brookside. According to the article, women like Nu are responsible for over half of the world’s food production, and in developing countries they produce 60 percent to 80 percent of the world’s staple crops of rice, wheat and maize, according to “A Row to Hoe,” says a report published in 2007 by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

Read the entire article here.

City Market Receives Grant

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced 85 grants totaling $3,445,000 directed by the new farm bill to spread the use of farmers markets. Eighteen of the 85 grants promote a new electronic benefit transfers (EBT) to help low-income consumers buy locally-grown fresh fruits and vegetables. The Missouri Department of Agriculture still has wireless EBT and debit machines available for Missouri markets and producers, please contact me for further information.

The City Market was fortunate enough to be one of the states to receive a grant of $59,500 from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.

“Farmers markets are an increasingly popular source of fruits and vegetables,” said Schafer. “Locally grown and locally known sales of fresh produce strengthen the connection between farmers and the community.”

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service helps increase domestic consumption of agricultural commodities and improve farmers’ income. The grants are authorized under the amended Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976.

Regional local governments, nonprofit and economic development corporations, agricultural cooperatives and tribal governments in 43 states may use the money to establish, expand and promote farmers markets and other direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities. View the entire list of grantees.

Congrats again to the City Market!

Budgeted Shopping

Sometimes the very sought after "organic" or "pesticide-free" products get expensive. In times when we have to manage our money very frugally to survive in the economy, prioritizing these things sometimes gets tricky. This article from MSNBC helps us to figure out how to buy the most healthy, fresh produce.

How to Buy Organics on a Budget

If you’re like me, your household budget is getting clobbered by the one-two punch of $4-plus-a-gallon gasoline and higher food prices. Most of us can find a way to drive less, but we all have to eat.

To stretch their food dollars, people are changing the way they shop. For some, that means buying fewer organic products or taking them off the shopping list entirely.

“The statistics aren’t available yet, but there’s definitely been trading down by consumers in many areas,” says Brian Todd, CEO of The Food Institute, a non-profit organization in Elmwood, N.J., that tracks supermarket trends. “Consumers are going from national brands to private labels and from more expensive produce, and that would include organics, to lower-priced produce,” he says.

Read the entire story here.

More Missourians Shopping at Farmers' Markets

The state Agriculture department said more Missourians are going to the local farmers' market for produce instead of the nearest mega store.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said our food travels an average of 1,500 miles from the farm to the grocery store.

State Department of Agriculture Marketing Specialist, Lane McConnell said food sold at Farmers' Markets travels a maximum of only a hundred and 50 miles.

"People are realizing now where their food is coming from," she said. "A lot of the produce that we get in grocery stores in certain areas isn't from Missouri. It isn't even from the United States, it's shipped in. And people are realizing the freshness and the value of buying local produce."

McConnell said prices at farmer's markets often rival those in grocery stores.

"What consumers have to remember that when they're shopping at a farmer's market even if the price is a little bit higher they're paying for that freshness and they're supporting their local economy and their local communities," she said.

McConnell said another reason to shop local is that eighty cents of every dollar spent at a Farmers' Market stays in the community.

Food Supply Fear Lingers Among Americans

While food safety has always been an issue, recently it has been brought to the front of every American's mind. Even after Missouri's tomatoes have been approved as safe by the FDA, shoppers still question food integrity at supermarkets. Many people have been switching to farmers' markets for their produce. At farmers' markets consumers can visit with the people who actually grow what food is ending up on their plate and be confident in the safety of their fresh products.

Poll Shows Fear Lingers for Americans on Food

The tomato scare might be over, but it has taken a toll - it has cost the industry an estimated $100 million and left millions of people with a new wariness about the safety of everyday foods.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll finds that nearly half of consumers have changed their eating and buying habits in the past six months because they’re afraid they could get sick by eating contaminated food.

They also overwhelmingly support setting up a better system to trace produce in an outbreak back to the source, the poll found.

The people who feel that way include the growers.

Virginia’s East Coast Produce, one of the largest tomato growers in the country, has been hammered by slumping demand and falling prices, although Virginia tomatoes were cleared early on, said sales manager Batista Madonia III. He said he’s frustrated by the government’s inability to find the cause of the outbreak despite a nearly two-month investigation.

The salmonella outbreak has sickened more than 1,200 people in 42 states since the first cases were seen in April.

Read the entire story here.

Farmers' Markets Producing High Yields

Southern Missouri's farmers' markets are growing and gaining popularity all the time. While there are more than 140 farmers' markets throughout the state, southern Missouri has a large share of those. The Springfield Business Journal took notice of the local market growth and featured farmers' markets in this recent article.

Farmers' Markets Producing High Yields

With increased talk of food-borne illnesses in products from tomatoes to peanut butter, farmers’ markets are growing in popularity.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture reports 140 farmers markets across the state, up from 97 in 2004. The department says the reason is consumers’ increased awareness of the origins of their food and a desire to know more about how their food is produced.

“Often what you find when purchasing supermarket products is that the majority of your dollars spent goes into shipping and production costs of produce,” said Lane McConnell, MDA farmers’ markets specialist, in a news release. “At your local farmers’ market, you are buying directly from the farmers; therefore, what you see is what you get.”

Southwest Missouri is no exception. Greater Springfield Farmers’ Market spokesman Henry Beersman said the market has 90 vendors this year, despite competition from a second market in Springfield on Commercial Street, a new market in Willard and talk of another starting in Republic.

Read the rest of the story on southern Missouri's farmers' markets here.

Specialty Crops Partnership with FFA

According to Alice Roach at the University of Missouri, FFA members across the state are out for new ideas in agriculture. Brandon Fahrmeier is taking a new twist on the FFA experience. He was both an FFA member and advisor. Now as co-owner of Fahrmeier Farms, a produce farm in Lexington, Mo., Fahrmeier is partnering with FFA students to make Missouri’s specialty crops industry more competitive.

“We’ve had a steep learning curve in growing produce,” Fahrmeier said. “I feel like we need to give back to students who are interested in learning.”

A three-year, $208,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture facilitates the producer-FFA relationship. West-central Missouri is the program’s pilot area. Grant funds will help students purchase supplies for specialty crops projects and aid organizations, such as the Missouri Department of Agriculture, the MU Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology and the MU Center for Agroforestry, in preparing high school curriculum and workshops about specialty crops and marketing.

Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, wine grapes and nuts. Their production provides an alternative for young people to participate in agriculture. Size and start-up costs for traditional farms have increased, which makes it harder for young people to compete in production agriculture. Fahrmeier started growing produce 12 years ago so he could keep producing on the farm his family has owned since 1947. With specialty crops, he said students can make a living on as few as two acres.

“It’s hard to encourage a high school student that there is a place for them in agriculture,” said Melisa Bertz, FFA adviser at Lafayette County High School in Higginsville, Mo. “With the specialty crops, we can find niche markets and still teach them how to work the land and give them value and meaning with what they’re doing.”

Six of Bertz’s students have specialty crops projects, such as growing sweet corn or working with Fahrmeier. Jessica Cole, a Lafayette County High School sophomore, will use grant money to raise about one acre of crops like tomatoes and potatoes. She’s looking forward to testing what varieties sell best at farmers’ markets in Higginsville and Warrensburg, Mo.

“I wanted to have different varieties,” Cole said. “People like to try something new.”

Support for specialty crops will increase communities’ access to locally produced foods and promote agritourism in the area. The Missouri Regional Cuisines Project, another organization involved with specialty crops, has designated west-central Missouri as the Old Trails Region. The project helps businesses collaboratively promote Missouri-produced products and helps tourists associate geographic regions with high-quality, distinctive products, such as Fahrmeier’s produce.

Fahrmeier has three grant-affiliated students working with him. They learn about producing crops in a “lab” that includes 11 acres of asparagus, 5.5 acres of tomatoes and greenhouses for growing tomatoes and raspberries. With their pay, students can buy produce at wholesale prices and resell it at farmers’ markets to earn a profit.

Fahrmeier wants the students to be business-savvy and experience the joy of producing.

“It’s rewarding to not only make money but also to see the reward when someone smiles and says that’s the best tomato they’ve ever had,” he said.

The Safe Way: Farmers' Markets

Farmers' market season has arrived--and food safety is always an issue for both the consumer and the producer. Salmonella has been an issue in the tomato industry in years past, and so some seem to worry about how farmers' markets stand up to grocery store produce. This article from piseattle.com takes professional views on the salmonella situation.

Are Tomatoes Safer at the Farmers' Market?

With a tomato-related salmonella outbreak in 16 states, farmers markets got this interesting question:

"Are tomatoes from the farmer's market safe to eat, given the FDA's recent warning about tomatoes & salmonella?"

The FDA has linked the nasty illness to raw red plum, red Roma and round red tomatoes. The feds say it's OK to eat those varieties if they're sourced from regions that are not associated with the outbreak, clearing tomatoes from places like California and Canada. Washington did not make the all-clear-as-far-as-we-know list.

The markets are checking in with its greenhouse growers on the topic and came back with this:

"Yes, our local farm tomatoes are definitely safe. The outbreak is likely due to the wide use of some kind of composting medium on big factory farms that was contaminated - but none of our market farmers are connected in any way to those kinds of operations. In fact, the tomatoes at the markets right now are all hothouse tomatoes, which makes them even safer, as they are grown in wood bark. Also, our farmers are mostly growing heirloom varieties, both in their hothouses and in their fields.

The FDA web site also notes that homegrown tomatoes are safe. Our market farmers are essentially growing homegrown tomatoes: they are not huge operations but rather smaller family farms, using safe, healthy and sustainable growing methods. These farmers live on their farms, pick the harvest themselves and eat the food they grow as well as selling it to local markets."

I checked in with Doug Powell, associate professor and scientific director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University on food safety.

His take on the farmer's market go-ahead? Not so fast. He wrote:

"Whether your produce comes from around the corner or around the globe, contamination must be prevented beginning on the farm. Ask your tomato supplier:-- What do you do for food safety?-- Do you or your suppliers test wash water for bacteria? Irrigation water?-- What soil amendments are being used?-- Do you or your suppliers train your staff on handwashing?"

But wait! Aren't the farmer's markets at least safe from the current salmonella outbreak, I asked, if the farmers are truly growing different varieties than the ones identified with the problem?

Powell said yes, although there's no basis (yet, I say) for the speculation that big factory farms caused the problem. In general, though, when it comes to food safety, "there is no evidence that sustainable and local is safer."

But wouldn't outbreaks from small local farms at least be easier to contain and easier to track?
Maybe, Powell wrote, but it's a tough comparison to make. "We have no sense how often they happen because they are small and don't get picked up."

So, talk to the people who grow your produce. Ask them questions. The advantage of the farmer's markets is, at least at the markets you actually get that chance.

Farmers' Market Manual is Online!

For all those who are interested in organizing or reorganizing a farmers' market in your area, the Missouri Department of Agriculture has a great new resource for you! After many months of preparation and hard work, Lane McConnell and I have gotten the Missouri Farmers' Market Start-Up Handbook published in web form.

In an easy-to-use 16 section format, anyone should be able to access the information available in the handbook. The handbook covers topics ranging from farmers' market facts to funding and budgeting to marketing your market.

To access the handbook online, check out the Farmers' Market Resources webpage on the MDA website at http://www.mda.mo.gov/Market/fmmanual.htm.

Fuel Cost May Hurt Farmers' Markets

With prices rising for everything in today's economy, how does this affect farmers' markets? Here is an up close look at how some folks believe farmers' markets are being impacted by the increase in gas prices.

Fuel Cost May Hurt Farmers' Markets

The high cost of fuel has created uncertainty over the price of fresh produce.

But growers say they'll find ways to keep prices in line to compete with grocery stores and avoid driving away consumers. "The whole farming industry is petroleum-based, so it's a struggle to keep the prices from increasing," said Rick Lattin, of Lattin Farms in Fallon. "Just the cost of getting to market is something that's scaring the daylights out of us."

Read the entire story here.