Farmers markets rebound after a slow start to season

FIRM ROOTS: Blia Moua speaks with Rachel Newman Greene, director of partnerships and community projects for West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation, at a farmers market in the organization’s parking lot. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
FIRM ROOTS: Blia Moua speaks with Rachel Newman Greene, director of partnerships and community projects for West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation, at a farmers market in the organization’s parking lot. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Planting three times to get eggplant, beans and a selection of Chinese vegetables that sell well in urban farmers markets is not the best way to start a season.
“This season has been worse than others. The weather was too cold,” said Choua Xiong, who with his wife, Kia Xiong, owns Green Leaf Farm in Cranston.
“We lost a lot of our vegetables. The first time they died. The second time they died,” said Choua Xiong, who sells his produce at three Providence farmers markets – Hope Street, Armory and Broad Street. “Now everything is good.”
The three markets where Green Leaf Farms sells produce are among about 46 farmers markets in the state, down from approximately 50 last year, said Georgina Sarpong, market manager for Farm Fresh Rhode Island, which manages farmers markets in 10 communities and serves as a link among growers and other farmers markets across the state.
One of the farmers markets is out of service just for this season, she said.
“We lost the downtown Providence market due to construction at Kennedy Plaza,” said Sarpong.
“Some of those vendors are participating in other markets,” she said. “Some dropped out for personal reasons or because of the slow start to the season due to weather, they had to cut back on staffing.”
The season is expected to pick up with many products available in September and into the first two weeks of October, said Sarpong.
The goal is to have a farmers market in every community, she said.
Rhode Island’s strong support for farmers markets is in line with a national hunger for fresh, local food.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced on Aug. 4 that its USDA National Farmers Market Directory has 8,268 listings – a 76 percent increase in farmers markets since 2008.
“The National Farmers Market Directory numbers reflect the continued importance of farmers markets to the American agriculture,” said USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Administrator Anne Alonzo, in a press release. “Farmers markets play an extremely important role for both farmers and consumers,” said Alonzo. “They bring urban and rural communities together, while creating economic growth and increasing access to fresh, healthy foods.”
The exact number of farmers markets in Rhode Island may be hard to pin down because of the different ways they are managed. Some are managed by Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a few by the state and some by the farmers themselves, while other may briefly pop up in a community, said Michele Kozloski, whose Zephyr Farm grows produce on about 4 acres, some of it on rented land at Urban Edge Farm and some on other property she owns in Cranston.
Zephyr Farm sells its produce at the Hope Street Farmers Market and the Coastal Growers Farmers Market at Casey Farm in North Kingstown.
“It was a little bit of a slow start. I got into the fields about three weeks later than usual because there was snow on the ground,” said Kozloski. “I usually get into the field in March or April.
“Now the produce has caught up and it’s been a great season,” she said. “We’ve had a pretty mild summer, enough rain, not crazy hot.”
Kozloski can’t tell yet if Zephyr Farm’s earnings are up or down this year.
“I’m growing more produce, but I’m also growing on more land,” said Kozloski.
Overall, farmers markets are thriving in the state,” she said.
“The support for farmers markets is strong in Rhode Island,” she said.”I’ve seen more people coming to farmers markets.
“Rhode Island is a good place to be a farmer. It’s small enough to know your customers and big enough to get new customers,” said Kozloski, who started college in pre-med and when she graduated, realized she liked working outdoors. She’s been farming for about 16 years. She did an apprenticeship at a farm in Oregon, then worked as a farm manager for Southside Community Land Trust and now runs her own farm.
August and early September are “crucial for farmers in the state,” she said. “It’s tomato season and we also have melons, summer squash, cucumbers and peppers. Our biggest crops will be coming in.” After the slow start, Green Leaf Farm has been selling its plentiful and varied harvest that includes bok choy, long beans, melons, potatoes, sweet potatoes and chayote, a type of squash.
The 2-acre Green Leaf Farm is part of Urban Edge Farm in Cranston, where several farmers work on state land managed by the Southside Community Land Trust.
While the produce is good, Choua Xiong has noticed his customers spending money carefully.
“When I raise my prices a little, the people are complaining,” he said. So he’s kept his prices mostly the same as last season.
Even with all the farmers markets across the state, a new one, the Sankofa World Market at West Elmwood Housing in Providence, launched on July 11.
“I think what we’re looking to do is something different than a lot of farmers markets,” said Rachel Newman Greene, director of partnerships and community projects at West Elmwood Housing Corporation.
“We are one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the state and I think our target population wasn’t going to many of the farmers markets. If they did, the products they were looking for weren’t available, or not at the prices they needed them to be at,” said Greene. “People reported to us they wanted to have the healthy foods their family likes to cook.
“A lot of people in our community come from market cultures. The market in the town is where you get your news,” she said. “I think some of them felt uncomfortable at the existing farmers markets.
“We have local growers offering different ethnic products for community members who are from places including Haiti, West Africa and Southeast Asia,” said Greene. “We have prepared foods from Mexico and the Caribbean, like savory pastries from Haiti.
“We have food trucks and every week we have a different cultural performance,” she said.” The Sankofa World Market has a mission to provide access to affordable, healthy food and to celebrate the many cultures of the community.”

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