Whiteness and Farmers Markets

This article focuses on two main farmers markets in Northern California, Berkley and Davis. One author was at the farmers market in Berkley the other author at Davis, they took on roles of volunteers, vendors, and observers. A central theme in this article talked about "The White Farm Imaginary". The authors talk about the romanticizing idea of "knowing where your food comes from" and "support your local farmer", yet these slogans show a white farm imaginary. A point that they write about is how these small farm ideas don't show the side of under paid Asian immigrants, the enslavement of African Americans, and Mexican farm workers who harvest our food produced in the US today. White farm owners are viewed as the ones who do most of the hard labor when that is not really the case. Most farms rely on non-family labor. 

Another central idea is "The Community Imaginary". There is an idea that farmers markets are a good way to bring community's closer together. It is a place where people can meet their neighbors and create a sense of togetherness. There was a point when one author reveled the towns populations of diversity and people were shocked at how diverse the city actually was. The farmer's market is so white based that people were shocked, and some did not even believe the census when it was revealed. In one of the markets there is a lot of gourmet food targeted towards white population. This also increases prices on the food making it harder to people of lower income to purchase. Food should be cheaper and healthier; we all need the nutrients in healthy foods no matter ethnicity or wealth. 

Finally, the authors do talk about some of the ways that can contest the whiteness in farmers markets. From inclusions of farmers of color selling their products and actually discussing the ways of ethnic struggles within the community, changes can be made. In Davis they have started small weekly markets on campus for students using coupons and promotions to help diversify the community. In Berkley they are educating people about food insecurity and supports a Black and Latino run program called Farm Fresh Choice. This article was incredibly interesting to me and had many key ideas which were talked about very well. There does need to be a collective action to address the inequalities of our food justice systems.