Regrowing Community
Farmers' markets: From four hundred to four thousand in less than two decades. They're sprouting like sunflowers in parking lots, town squares and plazas all across the country. Join us for a stroll through the throngs, the music, the aromas, colors and laughter of farmers' markets.
Click on a program topic to hear audio with voices and stories behind the issues.
Use the study guides to inform yourself about the topic and learn the skills of innovation, including:
- Creative problem-solving
- Strategic thinking
- Entrepreneurial initiative
- Collaborative design
In addition:
- Explore other audio, video and print resources on the topic
- Use the suggested activities to put innovation into action in your community
- Choose from a menu of options to adapt the materials to your specific learning and teaching objectives.
Ralph Cwerman
President and Co-Founder, The Humpty Dumpty Institute, a nonprofit creating innovative public-private partnerships addressing complex international problems around the world. (5:01)
Sonia DeMarta
Co-Founder and Market Manager of Lexington Farmers' Market in Massachusetts (0:53)
Dan Best
Certified Farmers' Markets of Sacramento; Member, Federation of California Certified Farmers' Markets (4:26)
Regrowing Community (One Tomato at a Time):
The Remarkable Return of Farmer’s Markets
Study and Resource Guide
Community Outcomes and Learning Goals
· Raise awareness of farmers’ markets and examine the reasons for their rapid growth.
· Discuss issues of community, access, and health/nutrition in relation to farmers’ markets.
· Teach innovation skills through creative problem-solving, collaborative design, entrepreneurial initiative and strategic thinking.
Listening and Comprehension Questions
Before Listening
1. Have you ever been to a farmers’ market? What was it like? Describe your experience – the sights, smells, sounds, and feelings it evoked. What did you like most? How does the experience compare with shopping at a supermarket?
2. Does your community have a farmer’s market? If so, how often? If not, why not?
During & After Listening
1. Mark Sommer says that farmer’s markets “address an unmet need for both nutritional and spiritual sustenance.” In what sense does it meet spiritual needs? Does it for you? If so, in what ways?
2. Why are farmers’ markets growing so rapidly?
3. According to the broadcast, what do farmers’ markets offer that grocery stores do not? Identify at least three differences between supermarkets and farmers’ markets.
4. What does Ralph Cwerman feel can be accomplished through farmer’s markets?
Critical Thinking and Discussion Questions
1. Consider the issue of access that is echoed in many of the interviews throughout this program. Are farmers’ markets more or less accessible to low income communities? In what way(s)? What, if any, obstacles prevent starting farmers markets in these communities?
2. Several of the guests on this program discuss the sense of connection and community that farmers’ markets cultivate. If people shop at farmers’ markets for more than bargains, what else are they looking for? Where else in your community besides farmers’ markets can they find it?
3. How do farmer’s markets in the United States differ from traditional and commercial food markets in other countries? If you’ve been to a food market in another country, what did it have that you don’t find in farmers’ markets in the U.S. and what did it lack that you find at home?
Experiential Learning
1. To Market, To Market We Go:Visit a local farmer’s market and record what you experience there in a written, spoken and/or visual presentation. Some ideas may include a short descriptive essay, a poem, a video, a collage/montage, photographs, drawing, and/or painting. Describe the kinds of people you saw at the market – ages, dress, job, mannerisms, patterns of speech, etc. Are they the same as the people you see at your local supermarket? If not, how do they differ?
2. Historically Speaking: Research the history of the farmers’ market as an American institution. Where did it originate and why have we returned to them now when a much wider range of food is available in supermarkets? What roles do they play in American history and culture?
3. Eat Here Now: Plan a meal where the ingredients come entirely from a local farmers’ market. In terms of planning, cost, and convenience, how hard is it to plan complete meals entirely based on foods found in your local farmers’ market?
4. Crossing Cultures:Choose another country, such as Sonia DeMarta’s native Venezuela, and discuss the role of the farmer’s market in another culture. What purpose(s) do these markets serve? What are the differences and similarities between U.S. markets and food markets in these countries?
5. Comparing Apples to Apples: Sonia DeMarta suggests that fresh, locally grown food tastes different, and often times better, than what we typically find in our grocery stores. Conduct your own experiment by visiting a local farmer’s market and purchasing any type of produce. Purchase the same type at a grocery store and conduct a blindfolded taste test. Can you tell the difference? What, if any, is different about the produce? Record and report on your findings for at least five items.
6. Betting the Farm: Consider what supermarkets offer that a farmers’ market cannot. In what circumstances would a supermarket be a better alternative to a farmers’ market?
7. Nutritionally Speaking: Research the differences and similarities between local fresh produce and produce found in a grocery store. Generally, is there much nutritional difference between what you may find in these two places? Is it enough to justify the extra cost and inconvenience of trying to locate and eat fresh, locally grown foods Consider convenience, cost, and personal well-being and agricultural sustainability when determining your conclusion(s).
8. Life on the Farm: Visit or volunteer for a day at local farm. Record or blog your observations concerning the challenges and rewards of farming today.
Crossing the Line Activity: To Market, To Market We Go
Lesson Objectives:
· Explore issues of access, health, and community as they are related to Farmer’s Markets in the United States, and specifically, in California.
· Develop critical thinking and problem solving skills through an inquiry based process
Materials Needed:
· Educast/Food, Sustainability and Society: Regrowing Community: One Tomato at a Time
· Student Worksheets
· One to two class periods
Procedure
- Ask students to listen to the Educast: Regrowing Community (One Tomato at a Time), paying particular attention to the concepts of access to food (both geographic and economic), health and nutrition, and community as they listen. They may take as many notes as they would like during the Educast, as key points may aid them during this exercise.
- Divide the room/seating into two halves, facing one another. On one side of the room, place a sign that is labeled “TRUE” and on the other, a sign labeled “FALSE”. Instructors may even use a piece of thick tape/duct tape to create a visual “line” down the middle of the room.
- Provide students with accompanying worksheet of true/false statements and ask them to decide individually whether each statement is true or false, making notes as they like.
- Introduce the first statement and ask those who found it to be “true” to sit on the side of the room labeled “true” and vice versa.
- Students may then take turns defending their stance. During the process, should any one student become convinced that a point made by the other side is, in fact, the better point, they may move seats, or defect. Where students are positioned near or far from the line can indicate how strong their belief/conviction is concerning the statement. As students from “the other side” talk, those across the line may move closer or further away from the center line, denoting how their perspectives are shifting, if in fact they are.
- Facilitate this discussion, using your time allowance for each question as appropriate.
- After the debate, ask students to reflect (reflection worksheet provided) on the issue and their thoughts during the debate. Debrief with the group as a whole: What additional questions were raised? What issues were most important to you during this exercise? What issues need further consideration? What solutions, if any, can you see as a result of this discussion?
TRUE/FALSE: For each of the statements below, decide whether you feel it is “true” or “false”. You may make notes to support your claim, but you must decide one or the other – there is no gray area during this debate.
1. The most important function of a farmer’s market is to grant a community more access to healthy food.
2. The most important function of a farmer’s market is to support local farmers.
3. Farmer’s markets can only succeed in wealthy communities or with government support/subsidies.
4. Grocery stores offer all the same advantages as farmer’s markets, and often provide consumers with more and better choices.
5. The Humpty Dumpty Program allows low income residents to receive matching funds for the dollars they spend at farmer’s markets. This program is an effective way to ensure that people will get into the habit of buying fresh produce.
6. Communities that might be considered “food deserts”—areas without easy access to grocery stores other than mini marts and convenience stores, can solve this problem by bringing Farmer’s Markets to their communities.
7. It is more important to take care of our domestic food system than to try to police the global one.
8. Americans are too obsessed with health regulations for farmer’s markets to ever become a mainstream source of food supply for our communities.
9. If there were/if there is a local farmer’s market in this community, I would/I do shop there.
10. Many families don’t cook together anymore and this has contributed to the disintegration of the family unit.
11. We should spend more time and money on our food.
12. Farmer’s markets should be supported by local governments as ways to build community cohesion.
About the Series: Educasting is a service of the Mainstream Media Project that extends the life and reach of MMP’s internationally syndicated radio program, A World of Possibilities (www.aworldofpossibilities.com) by re-purposing selected series following their initial broadcast for use as long-term audio educational and movement-building resources.
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