Order Remotely, Eat Locally:
Discussing COVID-19’s Impact on Farmers Markets, with Dana Eardley.
In this episode, Dana Eardley, Assistant Market Manager at the Fulton Street Farmers Market, discusses the 98-year-old market, the various farmers who have been with them for decades, and the importance of an intentional and real conversation during our current food crisis. As they continue to brace for unforeseen challenges, changing consumption habits, and new traditions, we take you on a virtual journey on how a historic market, and its farmers, are adapting and growing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dana Eardley
Assistant Market Manager, Fulton Street Farmers Market
Fulton Street Farmers Market
Grand Rapids, Michigan
The history of the Fulton Street Farmers Market is a hundred-years story of civic work and grass-roots activism. From its origin as an answer to high food prices in a growing industrial city to its most recent facelift, the Fulton Street Farmers Market has endured as a cherished neighborhood marketplace. With the impacts of COVID-19, the typically bustling pace of the market is knowingly slower; “foods are prepackaged so patrons can feel safe, tables are further apart,” no longer can we hold a head of cabbage and weigh it in our hand or “pick out your favorite batch of carrots,” and a sense of uncertainty and nervousness lingers in the air. Nevertheless, lines form, baskets fill, and local and delicious products are still enjoyed. The story of the market has not come to an end, and after weathering almost a century of ups and downs, there is yet another chapter of tenacity to be written.
Further Reading
- According to the New York Times, some individuals prefer outdoor markets to shopping inside during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Eardley highlights how a farmers market is much more than simply a place to tick off your grocery list — learn about how it can be an engaging place for all the senses.
- In these food-insecure times, farmer’s markets play an even more important role in filling the health and economic gap. The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization, based in Washington, DC, highlights how important your continued support is to their survival.
- According to a consumer survey conducted by the International Food Information Council, COVID-19 has nearly half (47%) of survey-takers eating more home-cooked meals than one month ago. Nearly a third reported that they were ordering less takeout or delivery than usual. Forty-two percent of respondents said that they were most worried about the health of other shoppers, while 37% were worried about the health of store employees.
- Learn from MSU how buying local builds communities from within, with healthy and sustainable food.
Episode Transcript
Kara Kaminski-Killiany[0:04]
Hey, this is Kara from Ruminate and you’re listening to Questionable Food.
Dana Eardley [0:10]
There are fragile places in our global food system and there are things that are breaking down on a global scale right now that are not giving people confidence in that system. So, I think that there are more people who are looking at how we build up our resiliency by supporting our local farmers at this time, and I hope that that’s something that continues on past this crisis.
Kara [0:34]
Today, I’m talking to Dana Eardley, Assistant Manager of the Fulton Street Farmers Market in Grand Rapids, Michigan, about how she sees COVID-19 as an opportunity for a resurgence of the eat local movement and how farmers are adapting to new market norms and expanding their digital offerings.
Kara [0:54]
So last time we chatted, we discussed the experience at the market more from the customer point of view, but an obviously huge piece of the farmers market discussion is the farmers. What are the changes that these farmers are experiencing? What’s it like from their point of view now?
Dana [1:08]
There have been a lot of changes especially from week one of shelter in place to now we’ve shifted things week by week. And some of the biggest changes are not allowing customers to touch your products. That is something that customers love to come and look at and pick out their favorite batch of carrots and smell the herbs and all of that. And so, it’s something that farmers are very used to customers engaging with their products and now that’s no longer available, which is a huge shift for them. Especially, in terms of how you set up your booth even. Typically, folks are stacking the product as high as possible and making it look abundant and beautiful. And now, we’re having to individually bag a lot of the products so that we can just grab it and not have to worry about that contact on the actual product, and so the farmer’s just grabbing the bag. The aesthetics are different, the structure is different, so that’s I think that’s been the hardest shift for our farmers but other shifts are our efforts, we’re really highly encouraging that all of our vendors have at least two personnel on-site. So that one person is dealing with cash and one person’s dealing with the product. We are no longer allowing sampling, which is a huge way for farmers and especially for food creators to get their products out, especially new, innovative products. Folks want to be able to come to the market and sample and so that was a real shift for people initially. I think that the customer accounts are also one of the biggest barriers, we go from having thousands of people on a Saturday to saying only 66 people are permitted in the market right now. A lot of our farmers are nervous about that, but I’m glad to say that we haven’t seen a reduction in sales in light of the customer accounts, because I think that folks are coming and they’re really shopping seriously, and they’re stocking up and buying a lot. And so, each customer that’s coming through I think is spending more and vendors, fortunately, are not seeing a loss in sales that we would have anticipated.
Kara [3:21]
That’s really fascinating. Do you have thoughts on what’s behind that trend or how you think that might carry post-crisis in terms of that, almost that consolidation of sales?
Dana [3:33]
Yeah, there’s a lot there to talk about. But I think we’re really optimistic. It feels like it’s a resurgence of the eat local movement of 2012. It feels like people are really starting to question again, where’s my food coming from? Who’s growing it? How is it being grown?
People are looking for really highly nutrient-dense foods. And so, I think that that’s a huge part of it is people are afraid of shortages, food shortages. Whether they’re real or just out of people’s fear that they might be happening. I think that people are nervous about the safety of purchasing food in big box stores, just with the number of contacts with each product, with all the customers coming through. And so, I think that people just are feeling really safe right now coming to the farmers market. And so, I’m really optimistic that that’s something that will help to shift people long term. Once you’re experiencing the farmers market and you’re eating healthy, delicious food and you can taste the difference and know your farmer and have that sense of connection to where your food is coming from, I’m optimistic that people will want to continue that. I’m also optimistic that as we look to the global food system, which absolutely plays a huge role and is critical for feeding our population, we’re also seeing that there are fragile places in our global food system and there are things that are breaking down on a global scale right now that are not giving people confidence in that system. So, I think that there are more people who are looking at, “How do we build up our resiliency by supporting our local farmers at this time?” And I hope that that’s something that continues on past this crisis.
Kara [5:18]
Thinking of the farmer experience, how is that adaptation gone for them? Do you have any stories about the transition and that transition process for folks?
Dana [5:29]
So, it’s been a big shift for all of our farmers to be certain. And we’re lucky that our second season farmers have been piloting and testing out different strategies so that they can share their findings with folks who are coming back for the main market next week. But, some of the interesting stories are just the demand.
The increase in demand has been incredible. I know Full Hollow Farm out in Belding, they started in response to this crisis, they started having pre-sell orders where you can go on their website and look at what they have available and order it online, pay online and then you just show up and grab your basket of food. And they had such high demand that they couldn’t come to market last week because they are low on product, which is incredible!
I mean a bummer for us yeah miss them, but it’s really incredible to see how this demand is shifting. How our farmers are reacting, Brad and Jaimie at Full Hollow had said that they could have never anticipated that they needed to grow all of this extra food for April. They thought that they were already growing more than they would need, but you couldn’t anticipate this. And so, I think a lot of our farmers who are a part of the second season market were really blown away with sales and with the demand. And so, I think people are really taking that into account for planting, like how much they need to be growing for main market season. But there’s just so many variables that it’s really hard to decipher. I do not envy them having to do all their crop planning right now.
Kara [7:05]
So there has been that sort of shift to pre-orders and I know you guys promote online ordering, is that something that kind of existed or had been planned ahead of the crisis? Or is that something that’s really been put in place now?
Dana [7:21]
Really, as a unified effort, like for the market, it’s just been put in place now. We had a lot of vendors who had options for online retail. And so initially, when the crisis broke out, everyone was talking about do we need to have a Full Street Farmers Market platform where you can pre-order all of your goods and then come and pick them up, but when talking to our farmers and our vendors, so many of them already have individual platforms. And so, it made more sense for them and for us in terms of aggregation and distribution for our customers to go to their individual site. We’ve got over 20 vendors at this point in time who are listed on our COVID-19 page on our website. We’re doing the pre-orders and it’s been great just to see that demand increase and to see customers are asking for this and it’s available to them and it looks different for each farmer. But for most of these platforms are very user friendly.
Kara [8:20]
You said about 20? What percentage is that of all the vendors that you work with?
Dana [8:25]
Well, it depends on the season. Right now we’re working with about 25 vendors. So that’s a huge chunk of our current vendors. But it’ll be interesting to see as the main season comes on, and as vendors are returning to see if they are getting online platforms as well. It’s something that we’ve started to ask folks about and we’re trying to vet how can we best support their online sales, but I think it’s a very new concept for a lot of farmers, for sure.
Kara [8:55]
But it’s an area of growth that you think, even through this year?
Dana [9:01]
I think so, I think the demand is so high. We have customers calling us all the time asking about online ordering, but I know our individual farmers are getting those same phone calls, too. And so, I think there will be some good pressure for farmers to turn to online sales.
Kara [9:17]
It might give me a chance to get Visser Farm strawberries.
Dana [9:22]
Yes! One can dream, they definitely have online platforms. So definitely check that out.
Kara [9:28]
So we talked about a lot of really established farmers that you guys have, and their experience might be a little bit different than those who maybe have only been around for a year or two years. Can you chat about how those folks might be adapting as opposed to your tenured folks?
Dana [9:48]
Yes, so one of the unfortunate things with us being able to ensure the social distancing is that we’re having to leave a space in between each vendor and when it gets tight at the bottom of the market in the fourth and fifth sections, we’re having to really limit the number of vendors who can be on the north end. And so, with that, we can’t have as many vendors there on a Saturday as we’re used to, which means that unfortunately, we’re having to kind of shift some of our attendance. So, some of our newer vendors and farmers are being shifted temporarily to Wednesdays and Fridays only, which they’ve all been very gracious and understanding about, but it’s also a really great opportunity to see those other days get built up. I think that as folks are staying home more so and people are cooking more than they have been in years past during this crisis, I think that folks will be more inclined to go out on a Wednesday and Friday when they know there won’t be the crowds and the waiting in line. And so, I’m really optimistic for our new farmers and vendors that Wednesdays and Fridays will be a great day for them.
Kara [10:54]
That’s really interesting. Have you seen changes in capacity or changes in attendance on those Wednesday and Friday days?
Dana [11:02]
We start them up with the start of the main market season. So, to be determined.
Kara [11:08]
Do you have some expectations based on what you’ve seen thus far?
Dana [11:11]
I am cautiously optimistic that they’ll be really great market days, I think, especially in May, it’s usually a slower time on the weekday markets just because it’s primarily plant sales and asparagus and apples, there’s not a ton that is ready in May. But I think that having some of these value-added products will really help to bolster them, bolster the days, and I also think that having an increased social media presence, where we’re able to best communicate to folks what they can expect when they come to the market. I think that that will really help people to see what’s there. Is it worth coming? And if there are enough vendors. I think that people will come out.
Kara [11:49]
You talked about increasing social media presence and we’ve talked about the consumers and the farmers. What about you, how has your job shifted? What were you doing day to day two months ago versus now? How has that changed?
Dana [12:04]
Yeah, the second season is always our time as management to really dig in and plan and file paperwork and receive applications and plan for the year ahead. And so, we were in a really good groove and feeling like we were really prepared for the main market season and I had all my ducks in a row, and then this happened. And it kind of blew up a lot of the things I had planned naturally, especially with those partnerships with other organizations. So, it went from being more planning and logistics to being more crisis management, more looking through what are the worst-case scenarios? What are the best-case scenarios? How are we supporting our farmers at this time? What additional opportunities do we need to present to our community? How are we communicating with our community at this critical time? So, it’s been a huge increase in communications with our vendors and with our customers alike, but it’s been a lot more just trying to think through the health and safety of the market logistics of shutting down each of all the sides of the market, that sort of thing. And we’re particularly trying to think about how are we planning for this upcoming season with all of its variables in a manner that doesn’t harm our season next year when things are hopefully back in the swing of things. And so, we’re trying really hard to maintain as many of our partnerships and stay in good communication with everyone so that we can hopefully have a year next year that is more akin to the years past.
Kara [13:32]
When you and I chatted before you mentioned how last week was calling all the individual farmers, understanding their situation and providing them the opportunity, if they weren’t comfortable to stay home. What has the response been like? Can you share some of those conversations that you’re comfortable sharing?
Dana [13:49]
Definitely. So, many folks are on different sides of the coin with this one because age is a huge component. If people feel comfortable, for older vendors, some of them don’t feel comfortable returning. And I would rather everybody stay safe, above all else. And then we also have a lot of farmers and vendors who have a family member who’s immunocompromised and they just can’t risk it. And these are real conversations, this isn’t like, hey, check this Google Form and let us know if you’re coming. This is a real like, how are you? Are you okay? What can we do to support you? And then also just trying to figure it out if some of these vendors just want to delay and not come back in May and maybe they’ll reevaluate some folks have said, this is a year I just need to take off for my health and safety and so it’s been a lot of really intentional conversation with our vendors to figure out where are they at and how can we make sure that they’re included moving forward, but not expected to participate this season if they’re uncomfortable,
Kara [14:57]
Are you finding that most are coming back or is there a general feeling?
Dana [15:04]
The majority of our farmers are coming back, thank goodness. But some of them, I would say there’s about five or six, who just said this year, it’s just not for me, and whether people are adapting their models so that they’re just sending a staff person in their stead to come. For those folks who are not comfortable being out in public right now, it’s just gonna look different for a lot of different farmers. But I would say by and large, we can expect to see a lot of the same farmers that we see every year, there’s just going to be a couple that will have to hang tight and wait until next year to see them.
Kara [15:36]
Thinking in a bigger picture, we started off, this is a potential public health crisis, which evolved into an economic crisis, and certainly a food system crisis. Do you have any final thoughts for those of us that work in the food industry, and how we can make ourselves more resilient? How these farmers can make themselves more resilient while still contributing to a more sustainable system?
Dana [16:01]
Yeah, I think the best thing that we can do is to use the power of our food dollars to support our local farmers and our local food producers. That’s always step one.
Outside of that, I think it’s really critical right now that folks who have the means and the ability are purchasing CSAs and giving that long term commitment to a farm. I am curious about the opportunities to better support on a systems-level to better support our farmers at this point in time the market is our primary source of support for our farmers, but I do know with the restaurants shutting down and with some of these big accounts no longer being viable, a lot of our farmers have extra products and don’t quite know what to do or how they’re going to make those sales. And so, I think it’s important that we continue to find, how we do this on a bigger scale? That’s something I think that there’s going to need to be a lot more dialogue across organizations and across all of our governing agencies about how we best support our farmers for long term sustainability, but the best thing we can always do is to vote with our food dollars.
Kara [17:18]
Well, Dana, I can’t thank you enough for sharing your time with me today.
Dana [17:21]
Thank you so much.
Kara [17:27]
To learn more about the Fulton Street farmers market, follow the link available in this episode’s description, or visit them at fultonstreetmarket.org.
