Three New Community Food Systems Reports

A Case Study of the Davis Farmers’ Market: Connecting Farms and Community,
15 pages, March 2000, Heather Podoll, UC SAREP. Free.
A Case Study of the Laytonville Farmers’ Market: A Rural Community Market,
9 pages, March 2000, Christopher J. Lewis, UC SAREP. Free.
Increasing Connections between Farmers and Communities in Stanislaus and Merced Counties,
22 pages, June 2000, Gail Feenstra and Robin Kozloff, UC SAREP. Free.

Two case studies of farmers’ markets and a report on connections between farmers and communities have been released by SAREP. The case studies, which detail the Davis Farmers’ Market in Yolo County and the Laytonville Farmers’ Market in Mendocino County, are part of a study on retail farmers’ markets and rural development. The multistate project, funded by the USDA’s Fund for Rural America, also includes researchers at Cornell University and Iowa State University.

“It’s been very interesting to contrast a small rural market like the one in Laytonville with the much larger, more urban market in Davis,” says Gail Feenstra, SAREP food systems analyst and the California principal investigator of the project. “There are some similarities, for example, in the way that both size markets act as incubators for small businesses, and there are differences in the way that the more rural market was the impetus for the development of a community kitchen.”

Feenstra was also a principal investigator on the report about increasing connections between farmers and communities in Stanislaus and Merced counties. The report was part of a study “Increasing Adoption of Sustainable Agriculture and Positive Community Impacts” conducted by researchers from UC Davis, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission. That study was also funded by the USDA’s Fund for Rural America.

“Our project was to investigate the factors that lead to the adoption of more sustainable farming practices in California’s upper San Joaquin Valley, and also to find out how these biologically based farming systems can positively impact local rural communities,” says Feenstra. “We interviewed many stakeholders to gather our data about perceptions of farmland preservation, local marketing, and sustainable agriculture, and were able to offer observations and recommendations.”

All three reports are available in limited quantities free of charge from the SAREP office at One Shields Ave., University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8716; Tel: (530) 752-7556; email: sarep@ucdavis.edu. The reports are also available on SAREP’s Web site at www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/cdpp/