Nice piece from 'The Oregonian' yesterday discussing what some people here in the Portland area are doing to introduce new low-income customers to their markets -
So the Lents International Farmers' Market in Portland has commissioned a bus to offer free rides to residents of four low-income housing projects. The Forest Grove Farmers' Market is offering a class on how to shop at the market on a budget.
The manager of the Oregon City Farmers' Market goes door to door in a low-income public housing project, trying to persuade residents to give the market a try. And this fall, a "micro market" will open in Portland's Cully neighborhood, run by market officials from wealthier Hollywood.
It's a long process, and the article goes on to mention some of the early struggles and setbacks encountered thus far, but it's still encouraging to see these efforts and ideas spreading, and that those involved are maintaining their enthusiasm. It's especially important to reach out and disabuse people of the false notion that farmers' markets are some preserve of the elite, and it's great to see that some markets are literally taking that message door-to-door.
Despite the fact that we still have a ways to go, here's one sign that these efforts are already paying off: Oregon Trail (EBT) card usage is up over 100% from last year at many markets in the region, and the article claims that usage is up 1,000% at the Oregon City market alone this year. I'd be interested to see how the opinions of food stamp recipients towards farmers' markets have changed since (pdf) this 2005 OFMA study, which came out just one year after the first Portland farmers' market EBT pilot program launched in 2004. Since then almost two-thirds of Portland-area farmers' markets now have the machines required to accept the cards, and new markets are receiving them every year. |
