Wiki Wednesday: Farmers’ Markets

2757558897_f3b24e994c.jpgSouth Bronx Greenmarket. Photo: Susan Donovan

Streetsblogger rex commented earlier today that we may be headed for what he termed a "Grapes of Wrath kind of economy" — one in which businesses prosper by paring down inventories to bare essentials while doing what they can to make themselves more accessible to the car-free masses.

Another key element to such an economy could be locally-grown food, available at farmers’ markets — the subject of this week’s featured StreetsWiki article. In this entry, Streetsblog regular Susan Donovan writes:

By reducing the distance that food travels, fewer fossil fuels are used
and fewer greenhouse gases are released. On average, an American meal
travels 1,500 miles to reach the dinner table. Farmers’ markets also
avoid some of the costly packaging found in some stores. Many farmers’
markets are accessible by foot or bicycle, providing another way to
reduce your carbon footprint.

Ironically, as demonstrated in Upper Manhattan earlier this year, easy access can be a double-edged sword in neighborhoods where some consider parking more precious than fresh food. After all, Tom Joad didn’t walk to California, now did he?

  • rex

    Brad, minimum inventories is not what I was talking about. I was talking about appropriate items that make your life go. If you are selling coats for dogs, your foreseeable future is bleak. If your are a bike shop owner and all you have is $50 Schwalbe’s, likely I’ll take my business elsewhere. If you are in the sexual service industry, you are likely golden. (I’m kidding, uhm, well sorta; not for me of course, but I have a friend…)

    In a left coast twisted version of Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” BikePortland has an article on a local entrepreneur’s business called “SoupCycle”. Where local produce is turned into soup, delivered via electric assist tricycle. Darnit, a quart of soup, a loaf of fresh bread, and a salad for 2, delivered for $18. I wish lived in “Souplandistan”.

    http://bikeportland.org/2008/12/10/a-visit-from-mr-soupcycle-jed-lazar/#more-11952

    and

    http://bikeportland.org/2008/11/21/business-booms-for-soupcycle/

  • Thanks rex. I understood you correctly, but failed, obviously, in the retelling.

  • Timmy

    You would think that eating locally reduces green house gases but that theory has been proven wrong. What’s much more relevant is what you eat. The production of food contributes to 83% of the gases while transportation contributes 11%. See the attached article

    http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0602-ucsc_liaw_food_miles.html

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