Providing Market Opportunity to Under-Represented Farmers

Duane Reed of Black Farmers Index helps set up the La Fete Holiday market, the organization's pop-up winter market in Louisiana. Photo credit: Black Farmers Index

What does it mean to grow great food but nowhere to sell it? That is a question we’ve tackled at The Index since our inception. 

Market opportunities are critical for farmers to sustain themselves and grow, but in Louisiana, that can be far and few between, especially for growers of color. So we decided to launch a market startup to give farmers in towns, smaller parishes, and medium-sized cities the opportunity as a marketplace featuring Black growers. As a result, La Fȇte Holiday Market was birthed. 

After breakfast and the meeting, farmers were invited to set up an outdoor farmers' marketplace called La Fête Holiday Market. Our pop-up was a holiday-themed event so that Lafayette residents and surrounding towns could buy locally grown, freshly harvested produce for their winter celebrations. 

The staff at Black Farmers Index saw the importance of providing market opportunities to farmers and offering a platform to gain more agricultural knowledge while building their networks of peers in the state. 

In total, nine farmers sold fresh raw honey, eggs, a variety of fruits such as apples, oranges, and persimmons, and a range of vegetables such as okra, mustard greens, kale, radishes, green onions, collards, and bok choy. 

The farmers were the following: Cryer’s Produce, 4Vics Farm, L4S Farms, Driftwood Farms, Jubilee Justice, Dr. Nettles Farm, Catalan Farms, Maison de Creole, and Lafayette Community Garden. The event was open to the local community members.

Since the meeting was held at the Francois-Benoit American Legion Post No. 504, the organization's members assisted veteran farmers in learning about the benefits they can receive as farmers and vets. 

“We think it is important to give underrepresented growers every opportunity to showcase their operations and bring their food to the market,” said Amara Brown, the organization’s communications strategist and event coordinator.

The event had such an impact on the community and farmers that the Legion extended an invitation for it to be held there annually.

If you give a hungry man food, he will eat it. 

If you give him land, he will grow his own food.

Fannie Lou Hamer talking about her Freedom Farm Cooperative

Reference:  https://blackfarmersindex.com/f/providing-market-opportunity-to-under-represented-farmers