news-record.com

Skip to the site menu
Skip to search

OPINION

Keep city farmers’ market local, green

Letter
Comments (7)

Saturday, July 4, 2009

(Updated 3:00 am)

Counterpoint:

By Marie Hopper

I am writing to express my support of keeping our local farmers’ market local.

As a health-conscious and planet-conscious consumer and local citizen, I feel it is vitally important to support family farms and those folks who toil in the fields to produce our food. Allowing re-sellers at the farmers’ market devalues the hard work of those who physically grow our food and makes it much harder to be a green consumer.

The National Geographic September 2008 edition has this quote from Diane Cole:

“Eating Green — What does eating green mean? It’s choosing organics when possible, emphasizing vegetables, fruits and grains over meats, and striving to find locally produced foods that travel fewer miles from field to market to kitchen. These can help cut down a meal’s carbon footprint, or “foodprint,” according to Cornell University nutrition researcher Jennifer Wilkins. Shoppers who walk, bicycle or take public transportation to nearby farmers’ markets will reduce it even further. ...”

For those pushing to re-sell, I suggest that they go to the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market where such practices are allowed and clearly marked. This policy is, in fact, the main reason my family doesn’t patronize that market.

This issue was extensively discussed in several public forums last year. The decision was made to maintain the rules governing what is considered local and to fairly enforce those rules.

Consumers have plenty of choices about what and where to make purchases. Local farmers, however, are much more limited as to where they can conveniently provide their produce at a reasonable cost and at the highest quality. Our local farmers deserve a market where they can provide our community with food without having to compete with nonlocal producers. The preservation of the family farm is something an entire community can and should support.

Please help keep our local farmers’ market local.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

Letter To The Editor

Article: Trooper should have remained off the force (3:00 am)
Article: Mitt Romney is type of leader nation needs (3:00 am)
Article: The tide is rising in favor of gay marriage (3:00 am)
Article: If you can’t procreate, no marriage for you! (3:00 am)
Article: Proposed amendment poses harm to families (Feb. 13)
Article: Even Obama’s campaign is bloated and costly (Feb. 13)
Article: Leaders should not gain from inside information (Feb. 13)

Advertisement | Advertise with Us

Comments

View Comments

This letter has been closed to new comments. Comments are accepted on select letters to the editor between the hours of 7 AM and 5 PM, EDT, Monday through Friday.

Inappropriate content? Please report abuse.

zeus80

July 4, 2009 - 6:08 am EDT

Ms. Hopper, I endorse your support of keeping the Farmers' Market "local." As a matter of fact, I plan to visit the market this morning to purchase some "locally grown" bibb lettuce! (Use it to make my bacon, tomato. and "bibb lettuce" sandwiches!)

Lakeshia

July 4, 2009 - 6:36 am EDT

Yada, yada, yada - I believe I'll just keep on doing my usual one-stop shopping at WalMart.

trabun

July 4, 2009 - 12:34 pm EDT

yada,yada,yada, says Lakeshia. "It ain't my problem! I will just keep putting my neighbors out of business and then I will act all surprised and indignant when I lose my job because other people do the same thing! I will just keep feeding myself food imported from foreign countries that has never been inspected and may contain lead, arsening, e. coli, salmonella, metal shavings, glass, rats and rat feces, unidentified meat products, etc, etc."
Every day, EVERY SINGLE DAY, 5-10 products from China are recalled due to poison content. Wal-mart works to prevent requirements that "Made in China" labels appear on food imported from China so you won't know where it comes from and it can't be recalled due to poison.
If you want to learn about recalls, go to cpsc.gov and subscribe to the recall letters. These will teach you not to shop at wal-mart for food.

oh good grief

July 4, 2009 - 3:34 pm EDT

"Please help keep our local farmers’ market local."

Is the letter writer referring to the "Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market" down on Yanceyville Street adjacent to the OLD baseball stadium, within the Greensboro city limits, the one listed on the City of Greensboro official website?

Because if she is referring to THAT "Farmers' Market," some/most of the food choices available there will come from Guilford COUNTY. Thanks to the passage of the "yes you can keep chickens (and "a" rooster?)" City ordinance, you possibly can buy eggs laid in the CITY of Greensboro. I doubt very seriously, though, if you'll be buying any beef, lamb, or goat raised in the CITY.

I suppose we'll just have to trust you, Ms. Hopper, to live up to your motto of "Keep our local farmers' market local." We're counting on you to eschew purchasing at the CITY Farmers' Market any breads (made with wheat grown and milled outside the CITY), cakes and pastries (ditto the wheat locale as well as sugar grown and refined outside the CITY), and jams and jellies (ditto the sugar locale). And heaven forbid if any of those products have imported, exotic spices and/or seasonings (when was the last time you saw a cinnamon tree in Greensboro?).

trabun

July 4, 2009 - 8:42 pm EDT

oh good grief...you set up a lot of straw men arguments and knocked them over quite easily. of course, all of your arguments are ridiculous and indicate a complete ignorance of the subject matter.
adding value to a product locally is acceptable, for example, finishing a product by cooking is fine. no one suggested (except you) that the market requires all ingredients be made IN THE CITY. In fact, the market sells North Carolina products grown NEAR Guilford county and within the state, NOT THE CITY.

oh good grief

July 4, 2009 - 11:52 pm EDT

Trabun, my examples may have been a bit over the top, but no more than the letter writer's stance as evidenced by the following quote: "For those pushing to re-sell, I suggest that they go to the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market WHERE SUCH PRACTICES ARE ALLOWED AND CLEARLY MARKED [emphasis added]. This policy is, in fact, the main reason my family doesn’t patronize that market."

I wonder how many trees are supported on the land where her dwelling is located. I would be surprised if "her land" is devoted to even 5 trees greater than 50' in height for each 100 square feet of land devoted to her dwelling space. I could be wrong -- she could be a farmer herself, perhaps worried that re-sellers are eating into her profits. If she is simply a true steward of any land and not a farmer who sells her farm products, does she grow/produce some/most of her family's food?

I think the letter writer needs to get out and about and realize that everyone within the city limits does not live in a rabbit-warren community conducive to walking or cycling or riding noxious-fume-spewing public transportation to gather food for their families.

My household eats seasonal fruits and vegetables, and I have been a devotee of the "Goodness Grows in North Carolina" campaign for many, many years, probably long before either you or the letter writer discovered or embraced it.