Pervasive Whiteness in Farmers Markets

 Allison Alkon and Christie McCullen's paper "Whiteness and Farmer's Markets: Performance, Perpetuations... Contestations?" goes to explore the whiteness that perforates farmers markets in the united States, particularly using two farmers markets in California as their means of gathering data and seeing how similar/different these markets can be and how consciously or unconsciously racist they are. The first market being examined is called "The Davis Farmer's Market" and initial descriptions seem to allude that the market focuses on organic and conventional products with political and activist groups on one end and food vendors at the other. It is also noted that the surrounding demographic is majority white and Asian while minority groups make up less than nine percent of the demographic. North Berkely, the other market being examined seems to operate in a similar manner with the overwhelming majority of the demographic in the are being upper middle-class whites. These markets exhibit subtle racial tendencies with white farm owners operating the market stalls, claiming to be the sole growers of the food. The truth however seems to be far from that statement as minority groups typically work the farms that these white farmers own. This dynamic creates a strict racial divide and keeps minorities down. 

    I'm sure this isn't only applicable to California and many farmers markets all over the country operate in a similar manner, however I don't believe all operate in this fashion. From what I can gather, the white takeover of the culture of farmers markets seems to mostly infect affluent or well off urban or suburban areas that support a farmer's market. Rural areas (at least from what I've experienced) that are more economically blended tend to exhibit a mixed culture in their farmer's markets and aren't necessarily dominated by white people and culture, granted, this is based on personal experiences with farmer's markets that I've been to and worked at. This may just seem to be the case on the surface and there may be racial division in a more subtle manner that requires more scrutiny to unearth.