Table Talk with Jeb Bush, Director of Forsyth Farmers' Market

Table Talk

EACH ISSUE OF SOUTHERN SOIL FEA- TURES A CONVERSATION WITH INDI- VIDUALS REPRESENTING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ALONG THE FOOD SUPPLY LINE. THIS ISSUE FEATURES JEB BUSH. BUSH CURRENTLY SERVES AS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE FORSYTH FARMERS MARKET IN SAVANNAH. HAVING PREVIOUSLY BEEN A VENDOR, BUSH HAS A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE ON THE LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA ESPECIALLY IN THE SAVANNAH AREA.

Bush’s local food journey started when he was a child eating fresh foods grown right at home, but he took a detour away from that tradition as a young adult.

“Growing up, daddy always had a big garden. We always ate food straight off the farm … it was normal to have that. and then I went to college and moved up north for a few years and totally got away from that and didn’t really think anything of it until I moved back and had some fresh local food and thought, ‘oh my gosh this is so good!’.”

Bush started his own garden to feed his growing obsession with fresh food and soon had more than enough for his own needs and was able to produce enough to become a vendor at the Forsyth Market.

When the position for Executive Director became available it just seemed like the perfect fit as he had spent most of his career working in the nonprofit sector and then working as a producer himself.

“I spent so much of my adult life in the nonprofit world. And then I had taken a few years as a farmer and it just seemed like the perfect combination of my two worlds. I felt like I had a better opportunity to advocate for farmers in this role than just being a farmer myself,” Bush explained.

Bush is optimistic about our local food systems, but stresses the importance of community involvement and consumer choices.

“We’ve got a really big opportunity right now to help farmers and help our community,” Bush said. “We’re sitting in a really good spot right now where we could do a lot more. It just takes continued community support to make it happen. Without community support, the farmers’ market doesn’t exist. It’s so important for people to come out even if it’s hot, even if it’s rainy. It’s so important for people to come out and support those farmers every week.”

The following is Bush’s perspective on a series of questions regarding the sustainable, local food system in Southeast Georgia.

What does the current food system look like here in Southeast Georgia?

In many ways, the food system is great. Every Saturday 3000-4000 people show up at the Forsyth Farmers’ Market. We then can go grab wonderful food at a handful of restaurants in the area that are sourcing ingredients from local vendors. We also have great stores like Brighter Day where you can purchase fresh, local produce.

Unfortunately, in many ways it is inequitable, not reaching into low income, low access communities or into rural areas. The Forsyth Farmers’ Market is doing its part to improve access through our SNAP doubling and our Farm Truck 912 programs, but so much more can be done to allow more people to have access to local produce.

What do you think a locally sourced, sustainable food system should look like here in Southeast Georgia?

What would be perfect? Local food being the norm instead of something we do on the side. Some examples would be grocery stores purchasing from local farmers at a fair price. Or we could have more grocery stores whose sole purpose is to purchase local. What would be amazing is to have enough demand that we have a market open 7 days a week. The local food scene also involves people having ownership over their food. We need neighbors to work together to grow produce and create products to make communities self-sustaining.

What changes need to occur to make that transition?

We need to be mindful of our decisions. As we make our purchasing decisions and speak with our dollars, we need to do so always thinking about who is this helping. Are we helping a farmer thatwe know or at least know of? Or are we helpingsome farmer across the country, a truck company,a major grocery store conglomerate?

Secondly, we have to improve access. The ForsythFarmers Market has our farm truck that goes intosix low-income/low food access areas. We bringfresh produce sourced from the vendors of ourSaturday market and we not only accept SNAP/EBT, we actually double it. No matter how hardwe try, this is not something we can accomplishalone. We need better government programs thatallow for lower income individuals to have accessto fresh produce. Further, we need more grocerystores to invest in these areas. Almost twenty percent of Savannahians live in low income/low access areas. This means that many of most financially insecure, who do not have access to reliable transportation, also live more than a mile from a grocery store.

And third, we need to learn to eat seasonally. I love broccoli. However, I know I can’t eat it this time of year. Similarly, I know I can’t find tomatoes in January. I don’t expect it, and I learn to appreciate what each season of food holds.

How do we make a sustainable, local food system that is profitable for producers while keeping it accessible to consumers?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In this fast paced world we live in, its easy and cheap to grab fast food or junk food for lunch. But, what are we doing to our bodies? I need to read my own words as I am just as guilty as anyone else. The first thing we need to learn is that cheap food is not necessarily the same thing as low cost food. If our nation invested early on in fresh, local, healthy food, we would not have to spend the vast amount of money we spend on healthcare. In similar fashion, if our government took care of small producers in the same it subsidizes large, commercial operations, small farmers would have a better chance at being successful.

How do we grow the sustainable food movement here in our communities?

Again, every person has the ability to advocate for a sustainable, local food movement. Where are you buying your food? What restaurants do you frequent? Do you know who grew your food? These are decisions that we as consumers are making and with those decisions, we are advocating for the type of food we want. The way to ensure everyone has access to fresh, local food is to be a supporter.