Musings about Market Associations

Hey there friends and fellow foodies. I posted the some of the following on a new website in Columbus called Edible Landscape Network. It is very progressive and is giving good voice to the possibilities of permaculture.

You will also want to review the current postings on localfoodcleveland on their take on the creation of an urban market association which inspired my writing. They also include a link which will take you to the following document. NYC’s Food in the Public Interest Document. I wish my computer skills were better to give you the actual link. I also wasn’t sure if there were copyrights involved. So just google it all and tell me what you think. Please leave comments. We want to here from you.

Good morning. I’ve been following a number of sites concerning local food and it’s availability. It is my opinion that the historical and financial aspects of food is a very important component to be considered. My dad and his dad were members of the Cooperative Grocers Association in Columbus. My grandfather was even president of the association and edited the newsletter way back when. These are very similar if not identical to what’s happening on the internet now. In the forties he was very proud of the fact that a 40 year old “gentleman’s agreement” had lasted that gave security and dignity to the profession of selling food. No one could “tip the scale” neighborhood boundaries were respected and employee grievances could be addressed. I count 75 family names in the old newsletters with a corner mom and pop full service store. In their day as many as 30,000 people lived downtown and a large portion of their food came from the surrounding counties. Everyone had gardens too. There were cooperatives that supplied the basics like meat, milk and eggs that a grocer could take his daughter along to to pick up from at Central Market (now the Greyhound station) There was a much smaller percentage of minorities here and we are all aware of the implications of this when I mention it. But they had there own stores to some extent over in the Mt. Vernon area. I don’t want to come off racist here. But I do know this was and is an issue for Columbus. My memories are that we had a good relationship with our African- American customers and employees. Our general manager/produce manager was black. Now we have major “food deserts” through out the city. When my grandparents settled here, they were the outcasts relegated to the swamps of south Columbus. Today the Grocers Association is a state wide organization that has corporate CEO’s in their upper levels and representatives from many of the independent grocers that are struggling to stay alive. They have a smattering of members who operate as convenience/gas stations. They offer training on security systems and dealing with shoplifting. But I didn’t see much attention to dealing with food availability issues when visiting their site.

How does this effect us today? I work with 4 Seasons City Farm. It is an inner city farm program. Last year we sold at the newly formed Main St. Market. And also the WIC market at the Dept of Health. It’s hard to compete with the established farmers coming in from Athens and Cleveland. There were price wars. The price of corn was $6-$7 a dozen at the booths close to the bus stop and parking lot path. The new younger farmers in the back sold for as little as $3 and $4 a dozen. Some vendors increased their price the following week as the market could bear. Southern Ohio has organized to support their farmers, as has Cleveland. Their web site (localfoodcleveland.com) just added a Urban Market Association blog. These are all wonderful things. My concern is purely a supply and demand dilemma. When will the established farmers start competing with the new farmers to the point where it could hurt? How do we support minorities and single women to be in these markets. How do we support new markets in poorer neighborhoods where the price break isn’t as attractive to the established farmers in this growing market.
There are other groups that are creating programs to feed the poor. But I don’t feel that they are addressing these issues as well as they could. I know that I overreach my doable ideas quota all the time. Would such an association be possible here?

I need to tie this into edible landscapes as well. 4 Seasons want’s to do all that as well. But in neighborhoods that don’t have the infrastructure of a warm/safe meeting space or volunteers that have a day job and can donate 3 or 4 hours a week doing things and find trained Ag people able to teach a diverse group how to garden, it’s a little rough doing a local food movement. I love the idea of permaculture. There are so many vacant lots that could be incorporated into even just a temporary fix for the food desert neighborhoods. This would be my proposal for the stimulus plan. A few are passing around the articles about Will Allen and Growing Power in Minneapolis. I have discussed this with people at Franklin Park and the Health dept people involved with the Near Eastside Health Advisory Committee. Most of them have lost funding for the inner city projects they represent. Would you continue this dialogue here and spread the word. Keep planting! Kareng