The article written by Alkon talks about the “whiteness” embedded within positive food movements more specifically, farmers markets. She emphasizes that the term “whiteness” doesn’t necessarily embody just skin color it also represents the cultural practices typically found in white families, as well as social norms. When people imagine an American farm the first thing that normally comes to people’s mind is a stereotypical small scale farm run by a white family. When in reality there is diversity in agricultural labor that goes unnoticed. In these farmer’s markets the idea of the white farmers are praised overlooking the accurate production.
Another important topic Alkon discussed was how farmers markets are shaped by political liberalism. Unbeknownst to most the higher prices restrict availability to low-income people and normally minorities. Farmer’s markets are looked at as promoting sustainable agricultural practices and improving inclusion, but in reality, the universal approach is not as it seems. It promotes their products based on the societal norm directed towards white customers.
What Alkon proposed to help this divide in farmers markets is an intersectional approach to address white privilege. In my opinion the first step to improving this issue is recognizing that there is an issue in the first place. Alkon believes that farmers markets will not improve on it’s own but for the producers it is important to consider a more inclusive product in order to create a just environment.
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