As the first semester of the Campus Farmers Market comes to a close, the market’s vendors and student board are evaluating the response of the University and considering ways they can improve in the spring.
Ariel Fugate, a sophomore in fisheries and wildlife science and the market manager, said she believes the Farmers Market made an impact on the University this semester.
“Students are starting to think about where their food comes from and where the money they spend on food goes to,” Fugate said. “But there are still a lot more people we hope to reach.”
Next semester the student board will focus on recruiting more vendors and getting student groups related to agriculture and food involved, according to Fugate.
Michelle Schroeder-Moreno, director of the University agro-ecology program, serves as the faculty adviser for the Farmers Market. She helped write the market’s handbook and now advises the market’s student board.
“This has been a students’ grassroots effort from the ground up; I just facilitate,” Schroeder-Moreno said. “I wanted to get involved because I teach students about sustainable production and food systems.”
Schroeder-Moreno said the market is a way of implementing many of the University’s goals.
“As an educational institution, we need to educate students about the importance of sustainable foods and agricultural processes,” Schroeder-Moreno said. “And as a land grand institution, we need to support farmers by giving them a place to sell products.”
S&L Farms, owned by Linda Maggio and Steven Kosko, started a booth in the market at the end of September.
“It is important to us to show people they can eat well and not have to purchase food that travels from the other side of the country,” Maggio said. “We do not use any chemicals on our farm and our animals are all free-range.”
S&L farms sells pasture-raised chickens, free-range animal welfare approved eggs, lamb and organic vegetables. Maggio said S&L Farms’ experience has been well worth its time, and it plans to return next semester.
“The students involved have done a phenomenal job and we have been very successful,” Maggio said. “The one improvement I would like to see would be more participation by faculty and staff members, because they are our target audience.”
Susie and Mike Jones of Mae Farms have been selling meat, chicken eggs and dairy products at the Farmers Market since the beginning of the semester.
“We really appreciate the opportunity to come to the University,” Susie Jones said. “We have been more successful than we expected and we definitely plan on coming back next semester.”
Schroeder-Moreno said the market’s main priorities in planning for next semester are advertizing and promotion.
“At the end of the semester we will discuss how we want to expand next year,” Schroeder-Moreno said. “We want to have more producers but we also want a variety of producers that sell different products that appeal to students. The challenge right now is there are not enough farmers to meet the demands of all the markets in this area.”
Ethan Lineberger, a junior in soil science, serves as the education coordinator for the market.
“I want to help students understand the importance of eating locally and being sustainable,” Lineberger said. “This semester we were just getting started, but we did make brochures, informational pamphlets and recipe sheets.”
Lineberger said he wants to expand the educational aspect of the Farmers Market next semester by having more events with specialists, such as the vermicomposting exhibit at the market today, to show students how they can use environmentally sustainable practices.
Fugate said the student board currently has available positions for student volunteers to help with the market in areas including education, advertizing and vendor relations.
