Like Katherine, I am finding it difficult to come up with any concrete answer to the questions Chuck Ross posed. As Secretary Ross made clear, the only answer to those questions may be a new economic system, though it is a challenge to dream up a new system when we are so entrenched within our old one.
Lately I have been wondering how the much the use of EBT at farmers’ markets has expanded access to local food. From the outside it seems as though this might be an easy answer to Chuck Ross’ first question related to broadening the socio-economic range of people that engage in the local food system. However, after speaking with people in Louisville, the general consensus is that even with EBT benefits, farmers’ markets are still largely inaccessible for low-income families. In fact, during the 2009 season, out of $1,232 spent at the Victory Park Market, a farmers’ market in the underserved California neighborhood in Louisville, only $31.50 represented EBT sales (in other words, less than three per cent of the total sales).
If farmers’ markets remain inaccessible for low-income families even when they accept EBT, it seems as though we need to find a way to decrease farmers’ market prices even further if we intend to expand access to the local food system. Another thing I have been thinking about lately is how increasing sales at farmers’ markets among families or individuals that are not from low-income backgrounds might have a trickle-down effect with the potential to decrease farmers’ market prices, and consequently increase low-income families’ access to local food. Like Secretary Ross indicated, these issues are often a simple question of economics. I have yet to find any study that considers how farmers’ market prices have changed in the past couple of years as a result of increasing demand, but I think this would be interesting to look at. Perhaps this is even a way to bridge the divide between supporting local food systems and expanding food access–in this instance, supporting the local food system is actually the force that increases food access.