Successful farmers’ market will return to campus twice in the fall

After hosting a popular farmers' market at the university in April, a healthy living advocacy group plans to hold at least two more market days during the fall semester, working toward a goal of holding the markets every week, university officials said.

The events are scheduled for Tuesdays Sept. 28 and Oct. 19, according to Shirlene Chase, the assistant director for Dining Services who is coordinating the markets with the university Wellness Coalition and students.

Although organizers haven't yet picked a location for the fall, Chase said students can expect the events to be similar to April's, which was held in honor of Earth Day on Hornbake Plaza. At that market, 15 vendors gave cooking demonstrations and sold plants, crafts and food. Organizers received positive feedback from both students and vendors, and much of the market's inventory was gone by 2 p.m.

The location at the center of the campus, organizers said, was key to the market's success, and they hope to hold the fall markets in a convenient and central location on the campus.

Also, because April's market was held in the spring before farming season, the market lacked fresh produce, something organizers are looking forward to including in the fall markets.

Tracy Zeeger, co-chair of the Wellness Coalition, said one of the main goals of holding a farmers' market is making healthy foods and fresh produce accessible to students.

"The market is also a great educational opportunity," she said. "We can teach students about the importance of eating locally grown foods, as well as offer tips and ideas on what to do with the foods purchased at the market in their own kitchens."

Senior environmental science and technology major Jesse Yurow, who is helping plan the farmers' markets through the Office of Sustainability, explained that buying local, organic food is not only important for health, but also for the economy and the environment.

"Worker exploitation, environmental degradation and a heavy reliance on fossil fuels and poisons are hallmarks of the modern industrial food system," Yurow wrote in an e-mail. "Buying food locally subverts the oppressive modern industrial food system while creating community and reconnecting people with their most important source of sustenance."

Although the university is funding the markets, the idea of holding a farmers' market on the campus was sparked last fall by a discussion in a business class — BMGT 390: Systems Thinking for Managerial Decision Making, said Kirsten Chen, a student in the class and a senior operations management major.

In the class, students were asked to brainstorm ideas that would support healthy living, strengthen a community and boost the local economy, and they realized a farmers' market would meet many of those goals, she said.

Chen said she took the class' idea to university officials and helped plan the spring market. She will continue her work on the farmers' markets throughout the fall.

The spring farmers' market's success demonstrates that the university is committed not only to healthy living and sustainability, Chen said, but also to developing student ideas.

"They're a good example of how students can really form their own ideas and get support from the [university] community," she said.

Freshman government and politics major Delisha Thompson was thrilled to hear there would be a farmers' market on the campus in the fall.

"There's not a lot of healthy food," Thompson said of her experience eating at the South Campus Dining Hall over the summer.

Computer science graduate student Randy Baden, who said he hadn't been aware of the spring farmers' market, said although he wasn't sure whether he'd patronize the markets in the fall, the convenience makes it more likely that he would.

"I definitely wouldn't go to it if it weren't on-campus though," Baden said.

Chase said the success of the markets in the fall will determine how far the university runs with the concept, but she has high hopes.

"The ultimate goal is to hold markets weekly all year," Chase said.

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