Class Conscious, Color‐Blind: Examining the Dynamics of Food Access and the Justice Potential of Farmers Markets

Abstract

Although often intended to address injustices in food access, farmers markets tend to cater to affluent communities, and to exclude on the basis of race and class.

All's Well That Ends Well: How Alabama Farmers Marketers “Last Stand” Against Modernity Was Finally Resolved

“…Alternative food networks, such as community‐supported agriculture (CSAs), co‐operatives, and farmers markets, aim to improve food access, typically in urban, especially inner city, areas (Lambert‐Pennington and Hicks ). Despite the best of intentions to increase the availability of wholesome locally grown food for all (Larsen and Gilliland ), these entities have been documented to be exclusionary on the basis of ethnicity and income (Lambert‐Pennington and Hicks ; also see Anguelovski ; Guthman ; Passidomo ; Slocum ; Slocum and Cadieux ). Ample concern has been registered over the degree to which local food movements in general, and farmers markets in particular, are privileged white middle‐class spaces that exclude Blacks, immigrants, and other minorities (Alkon and McCullen ; Pilgeram ; Ruelas et al.…”

“…Ample concern has been registered over the degree to which local food movements in general, and farmers markets in particular, are privileged white middle‐class spaces that exclude Blacks, immigrants, and other minorities (Alkon and McCullen ; Pilgeram ; Ruelas et al. ; Slocum , ), and the resistance by some to acknowledging this (Lambert‐Pennington and Hicks ). At times, the exclusion is intentional, as Guthman (:393) found when interviewing a CSA manager who made clear “he would not want to use strategies to attract low‐income consumers because those strategies ‘may discourage the high‐end consumers that we cater to.’”…”

“…Accessibility issues, especially concerns about transportation and costs, as much as knowledge or alternative ideology, may determine if the less well‐off attend . One indicator, subtle or not, of the true extent to which farmers markets reach out to low‐income shoppers is whether or not the markets and/or individual vendors accept vouchers from the Senior Farmer's Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), the WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (e.g., Lambert‐Pennington and Hicks ).…”

“…At times, the exclusion is intentional, as Guthman (2008:393) found when interviewing a CSA manager who made clear "he would not want to use strategies to attract lowincome consumers because those strategies 'may discourage the high-end consumers that we cater to.'" Part of the issue appears to be an inadvertent lack of comprehension on the part of food system agents that perceptions of social space and belonging can differ markedly depending on the demographic characteristics of clients (Lambert-Pennington and Hicks 2016;Oths and Groves 2012). Less attention has been paid to class than to ethnicity, though Markowitz (2010) has observed problems in establishing farmers markets that serve the low income, and Kasper (2015) showed that most Memphis farmers market patrons came from wealthier neighborhoods, rather than from the poorer ones located closer to the market.…”

“…A key point is that farmers markets appear to have been a rare space of inclusion across the various strata of ethnicity and class before the Civil Rights Era. Thus, the much written about whiteness and racial exclusion of the new experience markets (Alkon and McCullen 2011;Guthman 2008;Kasper 2015;Lambert-Pennington and Hicks 2016;Pilgeram 2012;Slocum 2007Slocum , 2008 is actually a recent phenomenon that applies selectively to experience-type markets.…”