BUSINESS BUZZ
The virtual New Bedford Farmers Market is open from Saturday to Monday, with deliveries on Wednesday. Check it out with the Source What’s Good app.
Growing Local By Steven Froias
For many, it was a welcome thunderbolt out of the blue heavens.
A
few weeks after shutting down their weekly Farmers Market at the Unitarian Church in downtown New Bedford due to the coronavirus crisis, Coastal Foodshed, the organization behind the market, released the stunning news that they would commence home delivery of locally grown goodness. As worries about the nation’s food supply grew during the awful weeks of April, the online announcement wasn’t just a bit of relief from a cascade of bad news. It seemed to signify something deeper: that, at least on a local level, the unfolding catastrophe was being addressed in a meaningful way by people with (pardon the pun) roots in the community. Coastal Foodshed’s growth as an organization and its popular New Bedford farmers markets fulfill a dire need in our
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society even in the best of times. It establishes a crucial connection between local agriculture and local consumers. Now, it is digging deeper not only to sustain that connection but also to strengthen it through an ordering portal on sourcewhatsgood.com and home delivery to house-bound South Coast residents. Nationally, the news carried ominous warnings of the dangers to corporate-run agribusiness, with its dependence on vulnerable and often exploited migrant workers. But these same stories only solidified the respect the New Bedford farmers market has in the community and the value it brings to our society. Two people who have long understood that value are Adam Davenport of the Marion Institute’s Grow Education programs and Steven Rittenhouse, a farmer and operator of Steven’s Farm Stand in Rochester (learn more about the Marion
June 2020 | The South Coast Insider
Institute at marioninstitute.org). Both have an inherent understanding of the larger issues involved with securing a sustainable local agriculture model into the future.
Growing knowledge
“Grow Education has been working in one of the most food-insecure populations in Bristol County (New Bedford), to educate youth about fresh and high-quality foods, local agriculture, and sustainability,” writes Davenport. “The Southcoast Food Policy Council, a new program of the Marion Institute, has a mission of connecting and improving all aspects of the South Coast food system. Currently we are leading daily meetings to respond to food security needs across the South Coast due to Covid-19. Our long-term vision will be to connect and strengthen every member in our local food chain to build resilience, economic
