Honoring county agriculture during Farmers Market Week – Marin Independent Journal

While the Bay Area sleeps, for farmers like Annabelle Lenderink of Star Route Farms, the day starts at 2:30 a.m.

As farm manager for Star Route Farms – the oldest continuously certified organic farm in California – Lenderink rubs the sleep from her eyes, takes her first sip of coffee and gets ready to head to the farmers market. It’s 11 miles as the crow flies from their 40-acre farm in Bolinas to San Rafael, where they sell their high quality fruits and vegetables every Thursday and Sunday at the Marin Civic Center farmers markets hosted by the Agricultural Institute of Marin.

Farming since 1989, and with Star Route Farms since 1998, she knows firsthand the benefits of farmers markets. Recently harvested, local foods are fresher and have more nutrients when they naturally ripen compared to foods that travel long distances. Lenderink loves seeing her regular customers to share recipes and farming practices. The community feeling and conversation makes the early mornings worth it.

Lenderlink is one of thousands of California’s farmers who you’ll find at farmers markets every week. This year marks the 25th anniversary of National Farmers Market Week (Aug. 4-10), and I want to thank our local food heroes: the people who grow, raise, produce, and catch our food.

At AIM – a Bay Area 501c3 nonprofit organization that manages nine certified farmers markets and a mobile farmers market across Marin County, San Francisco and the East Bay – we work diligently to build a local food system that is economically viable, environmentally beneficial and socially just. Farmers markets are core to our mission, connecting more than 400 producers with over 2 million annual visitors.

Farmers markets benefit the environment by shortening the distance from farm to table; shorter food miles mean less carbon emissions. Small family farmers and ranchers demonstrate great care for their land and livestock through organic and climate-smart agricultural practices. Markets benefit the economy; sales at farmers markets return more than three times as much of their revenue to the local economy than do chain competitors.

Farmers markets create a welcoming public commons, allowing shoppers to try foods grown and produced from across the California foodshed, meet craft artists and enjoy social connections. Farmers markets are a cure for loneliness; many people call the farmers market their “church” or weekly source of joy.

But, farmers markets don’t just happen. They take careful planning and management from dedicated farmers market managers who transform empty parking lots and closed streets into thriving marketplaces year-round, rain or shine. Farmers must be certified by their county agricultural commissioner, and food makers must pass inspections by environmental health departments.

At AIM’s farmers markets, we are proud to accept CalFresh (aka food stamps) and provide up to $15 in “market match” to stretch food dollars for the purchase of local fruits and vegetables. AIM recently lobbied and secured victory in Sacramento to save the program, which was on the chopping block in a difficult budget year.