Evanston Market Gets Test Run of USDA's VegU
Plus urban ag manager opening at IL Farm Bureau, and a land access webinar
Evanston Market to Pilot Expansion of USDA VegU
VegU is a popular produce education program that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has run since 2016 at its USDA Farmers Market in downtown Washington, D.C. Now, in a cooperative agreement with the national Farmers Market Coalition, USDA is piloting an expansion of its VegU model at three farmers markets — and one of them is our very own Downtown Evanston Farmers Market!
With congratulations to our friends in Evanston, here is the Farmers Market Coalition press release about this very big deal.
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The Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) is excited to announce its cooperative agreement partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farmers Market team to pilot the USDA Farmers Market VegU fruit and vegetable education model at other markets across the U.S. This pilot aims to identify what factors make implementation of this food education program successful at markets of different structures in different areas across the country.
In this pilot, the USDA Farmers Market-FMC team is partnering with McAllen Farmers Market (McAllen, TX), Downtown Evanston Farmers Market (Evanston, IL) and Red River Gorge Farmers Market (Slade, KY), to gauge the response to USDA’s Farmers Market “VegU-style” nutrition education programming in various types of markets. The team visited these markets during their eight-week pilots in summer 2023, to observe their programs, offer feedback and technical assistance, and build on partnerships between market staff and the team.
All three pilot markets have experience offering food or nutrition education at their markets. Some share characteristics with USDA’s VegU program or the FMC-sponsored Power of Produce (PoP) Club program but they are not offered on a consistent schedule or in VegU’s “grow, pick, prepare, and store” format.
Each of the pilot markets experience mild variations in terms of climate and growing season. The Red River Gorge and Downtown Evanston markets are situated in more temperate regions with warm summers and cold winters, while McAllen is in the Rio Grande Valley, a subtropical climate with hot summers and mild winters.
The McAllen Farmers Market is the smallest of the three: an urban, community-focused farmers market featuring 15-20 regular vendors with seven or so farmers and growers, depending on time of season. The Red River Gorge market is also relatively small, located in rural western Appalachia at the entrance to a state park. This market has a roster of 30-40 vendors attending their two weekly markets, at least 15 of which are farmers.
Downtown Evanston is the largest with approximately 60 vendors, 25 or so being farmers and growers.
After this initial test of the VegU program at other farmers markets, the project team will assess the results for future modeling and recommend adjustments to help market operators across the U.S. implement the program at their markets. The project team reflects that research shows when customers engage with educators at markets, they are more likely to purchase and prepare fresh fruits and vegetables:
"Our team hopes to share the findings of this project to encourage other markets to develop and improve their own nutrition education programs to support healthy eating among shoppers, as well as the livelihoods of local producers.”
IL Farm Bureau Seeks Urban Ag Lead, Paid Intern
Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) has two job openings of interest to our local food community, shared with Local Food Forum by Raghela Scavuzzo, IFB’s associate director of food systems development.
Urban Agriculture Program Manager
The Urban Agriculture Program Manager will oversee an array of activities that meet the goals of the program including but not limited to: managing a three-year NRCS Cooperative Agreement focused on Urban Agriculture; developing a statewide network of urban growers; partnering with farms around Illinois to expand urban agriculture through infrastructure grants and technical assistance; implementing community engagement and educational programming on agriculture in urban settings; developing site assessment and business sustainability plans; maintaining and creating high quality relationships with state and federal agencies, city leaders and community organizations and key stakeholders; executing strategies for effective communication with community members; and others.
Click the button below for full details about the position and a link to apply.
Paid Food Systems Intern
At Illinois Farm Bureau, we pride ourselves on offering a competitive and enriching internship program. As an intern, you will be part of the Illinois Farm Bureau family, be assigned real and meaningful work, partner with a mentor, attend speaker sessions with employees of all levels, learn about future career opportunities, have ample opportunities to network within the organization, volunteer in our community, and so much more! We're excited you are considering us to enhance your college and internship experience.
Click the button below for full details about the position and a link to apply.
FarmLink Webinar to Demystify Farmland Access
Gaining access to affordable farmland is one of the biggest challenges for aspiring farmers and producers looking to scale up. If you are in one of those groups, do not miss “Finding the Right Farm: Land Access 101,” the webinar presented by The Land Connection’s Illinois FarmLink program, Thursday, November 2, 6-8 p.m.
Here are the details from Illinois FarmLink, followed by a link to register.
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This free webinar, presented by The Land Connection’s Illinois FarmLink program, will introduce you to the basics of finding and securing a land arrangement that makes sense for you.
The webinar will provide an overview of a wide range of topics from the advantages and disadvantages of leasing and purchasing to alternative forms of land access.
You’ll also learn about:
Assessing your farmland needs
Evaluating farmland opportunities
Developing a farmland search strategy
Stewarding a good lease arrangement with a landowner
General tips for the land access journey
How Illinois FarmLink can be helpful in your search
No matter what kind of farming you do or what stage of your farming career you’re in, you can maximize your odds of finding a good piece of land by approaching the search with the same thoughtfulness and intent that you bring to your farming.
Bob’s World, and Welcome to It
No bold sunrises and sunsets today. But our cat Hobbes is kind of a natural wonder, don’t you think?