Posts Tagged ‘farmers’ markets’
Double Value Coupons: Promoting fresh local food
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on June 15th, 2010
Source: Sustainable Cities Collective
Image: Wholesome Wave © David Keh
From “Chef to the rich, advocate for the poor” by Marc Gunther:
Can you think of a simple idea that would fight obesity, support local farmers and help the poor, all at once?
Michel Nischan and Gus Schumacher did. Nischan is an award-winning chef, cookbook author and restaurant owner. Schumacher is a longtime government official who worked for the state of Massachusetts, the World Bank and as Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) during the Clinton years.
Their idea? Subsidize poor people who get food stamps or benefits under the federal WIC (Women, Infants, Children) program so that their grocery dollars go twice as far at farmers’ market. Several years ago, to make it happen, they started the Wholesome Wave Foundation with the help of some well-connected friends. Wholesome Wave began working with about a dozen farm markets in Connecticut, Massachusetts and California in 2008. This year, Nischan says, the program, called Nourishing Neighborhoods, expects to operate at 160 markets in 18 states and Washington, D.C.
Among other things, Wholesome Wave is disproving the notion that poor people either don’t care or don’t know enough to buy healthy food. “The fear that some people had was that we would go into these communities, and it wouldn’t work,” Nischan said. “There was a wide assumption that people in poor communities didn’t know what to do with fresh food.” Instead, he said: “Everywhere we go, people flood the farmers’ markets and buy fresh fruits and vegetables. They actually buy with a vengeance.”
Contest: Redesigning the Farmers’ Market
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on August 13th, 2009
Sponsored by GOOD, The Architect’s Newspaper, The Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, and The Los Angeles Good Food Network.
How can better design ensure that food grown by local farmers is delivered and distributed to urban residents?
Demand for “good food”—defined as healthy, green, fair, and affordable—is rising. Whether it’s from a rural family-run farm, community-supported agriculture group, or a backyard plot, locally grown food is increasingly viewed as a solution for many economic, environmental, and health concerns.
Yet significant barriers exist in bringing that food to urban tables. Even if a steady supply of good food is available, it can’t be delivered without better distribution networks that efficiently move it to multiple outlets and consumers.
What we need is a massive shift in our food delivery systems that will provide a variety of opportunities for farmers to sell directly and effectively to urban residents, helping us redefine the path from farm to fork. It’s time to rethink our local farmers’ markets.
We want designers, architects, farmers, chefs, vendors, and farmers’ market shoppers to think about how good design can improve upon the modern farmers’ market experience.
Deadline: September 1.
Visit the competition page.