Downtown SLC Winter Farmers Market at the Rio Grande (and notes)

 The Winter Farmers Market at the historic Rio Grande building in Salt Lake is a vibrant place for local vendors to sell their products and gain exposure, and for prospecting customers to buy healthy, ethical, local and natural food. It is also the place where inmates and guards from the Salt Lake County Jail sell the produce from their prison garden program. In addition, food stamps are accepted at the Farmers Market, providing low-income households with an opportunity to acquire fresh, local produce. The Winter Market is in its second season, and is a recent extension of the Downtown Salt Lake City Farmers Market held at Pioneer Park from mid June to late October. The Winter Market runs every other Saturday from early November to the end of April. In all, there are about sixty vendors. Hefty competition exists to get a spot at the market. There are two sections at the Rio Grande: outside on the Portico are the fresh fruit and vegetable produce, meat, eggs, honey, micro-greens, preserves and food trucks, along with some miscellaneous ventures such as tamales and kombucha. Upstairs on the mezzanine are crafts, baked goods such as bread and cupcakes, and packaged and canned goods.

The Farmers Market is an important venue for growing the local food movement in Utah. Allison Everson of the Downtown Alliance is the Winter Market Manager. She said that the public's increased desire to turn to local food has also led to the prosperity of the market and success stories of many of its vendors:

“People are becoming more and more engaged on local food. And I think we're turning a corner back to a sustainable, local view. Is it better to get organic spinach that was grown by, you know, migrant workers that are treated horribly in California by a certified organic grower or is it better to come down and get it from one of our local farmers and maybe it's not certified organic but it's certainly no spray no pesticides used. So what's the trade-off there? You're looking at your carbon footprint, you're looking at social justice in a lot of ways, you're looking at freshness, you're looking at flavor, and you're looking at the local economy. Keeping more dollars in the local economy always is a good thing, so I think people are really starting to engage on those issues more and that drives their purchasing. We are a beneficiary of that.”

Despite mostly positive trends, there are some difficulties for local food producers and vendors. Many struggle to maintain costly and paperwork-riddled organic certifications, often eventually opting to simply be natural; essentially organic in practice without paying for the official certification. One of these such producers is farmer Julie Clifford of Clifford Family Farm in Provo. She produces pork, eggs, honey and salad greens. The farm was previously organic certified but the monetary and time cost of organic certification dragged the operation down. “It was just too much to keep getting certified. Even without the certification, we haven't changed anything about the way we farm. It's still completely organic.” Clifford said. However, she was able to overcome the lack of organic certification by building a loyal customer base and selling at the farmers market. “We have an open farm policy. Our clients are encouraged to come see the farm and the animals. They trust our product and know it's completely healthy and natural. No hormones, pesticides or herbicides. Good feed,” she said. Many other small farmers are also opting for this organic yet non-certified approach. The cheaper costs of production are passed on to the consumer. Julie's pack of four large tomato and basil sausages cost four dollars—the same if not slightly lower than the price of name brand sausages at Smith's, except local and organic in practice. Certified organic meat at the grocery stores is often considerably more expensive.

Clifford Family Farm almost went out of business when the government declared that their chickens and eggs were not properly inspected and could not be sold to restaurants or stores. The problem was that the government only provides inspections for farms with over 3,000 birds, and Clifford only had 1,500. “We were closed down for third-party sales. The big corporations have a hold on the market. It's not near as easy for small farms as it should be,” she said. Clifford has since increased her supply of birds to over 3,000 in order to be inspected, but she maintains that the system is still flawed. She used to also sell poultry but her chicken meat operation was shut down for similar reasons. She said there are only local butchers that will legally process her pork. The rules on chickens are different. “Thanks to our loyal local customer base and the Farmers Market we were able to survive and overcome the restrictions, and now we're doing much better.” Clifford said.

Economic issues have troubled several other vendors as well, causing them to scale back in one way or another. One of these vendors is Kit, whose Food Cartel food truck sells Korean and Vietnamese sandwiches and rice bowls. Previously, Kit had a food truck selling crepes on the University of Utah campus to students. However, he said that “the market just wasn't right for crepes. Students wanted bigger portions. More food for their buck.” With his crepe operation, Kit sourced 80% of his ingredients locally. “It just wasn't economical anymore. I wasn't making enough of a profit to survive,” he said. Adapting to the challenge, Kit developed a menu of fusion Asian cuisine, including such items as a Korean Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich on a Vietnamese Banh Mi roll. The new venture, Food Cartel, is doing better. However, he said he isn't currently able to get hardly any of his ingredients locally due to costs. Kit said he hopes to be able to acquire more local sources for his product if the business continues to do well.

Disregarding the frustrating yet relatively surmountable struggles of some vendors, the farmers market is a bustling, successful venture. It is a place where aspiring local entrepreneurs can get their start and gain a following. Everson said that many vendors got their start at the SLC Farmers Market and now have permanent selling locations of their own. An example of this is Mamachari Kombucha: “One lovely young lady in her 20's started making Kombucha, got passionate about a product, started giving it to her friends, started selling at the market, and now she's a permanent vendor with a storefront in Salt Lake,” said Everson. Among other successful returning vendors are a fresh apple cider presser and an Indian family specializing in gourmet cupcakes. There are also exciting strides being made in sustainability and food security. Everson mentioned one producer, Deseret Peak Aquatics, who grows kale while raising fish using aquaponics; the fish live in the water beneath the kale, fertilizing the water nutrients needed for growth. “It's very sustainable and easy to control. You can actually grow a lot, with almost no waste. Water isn't lost into the soil, and you don't have to worry about temperature gradients or frosts,” said Everson. On the food security and community outreach side, Green Urban Lunch Box makes jam and preserves from largely volunteer ran community farms, and donates 6 pounds of fruits and vegetables to local food banks for every 7 dollar purchase of jam at the farmers market, said GULB volunteer coordinator Aaron Porter.

The Winter Farmers Market and the Downtown Farmers Market are undoubtedly large influences for good in the local economy of Salt Lake City and the local food movement as a whole. Sustainable farming techniques are practiced by many of the vendors, producing healthy food in such a way that is not inhumane for animals or detrimental to the planet and topsoil like the industrial, mono-culture food system is. The growing support for local food in the Salt Lake area is quite encouraging. Vendors from as far north as Logan and nearly as far south as St. George flock to the market and reap the rewards of successful sales and a loyal following. Visitors of the market experience a feast of food, friendliness and art, including crafts, music and even (at one winter market earlier this year) ice carving. After a visit to either the Winter Market at the Rio Grande, one will walk away with a renewed sense of hope for the local food movement and the direction that the food system is headed, not to mention some delicious natural products. 

NOTES:

Winter Farmer's Market Field Trip Notes

The Winter Farmer's Market at the Rio Grande is in its 2nd season.

The Rio Grande is a beautiful, historic building. Great opening inside. Upstairs is mostly packaged and canned goods. Outside is mainly vegetable produce, meat, eggs, bread, honey, micro-greens, food trucks and miscellaneous goods such as Kombucha and tamales.

Allison Everson from the Downtown Alliance is the Winter Market Manager. They are having 13 markets this season, from November through April. Every other saturday 10 am to 2 pm.

One new grower, Deseret Peak Aquatics, grows Kale in water with fish in it. The fish are raised as the Kale is grown, fertilizing the plants naturally. Very sustainable. Easy to control. Can grow a lot. Almost no waste. Water isn't lost into soil. Don't have to worry about temperature gradients or frosts.

Growers all come within 250 miles of SLC. From Logan to almost Saint George. The Downtown Farmers market has been running for 20 years. The market turns far more people away than they would like to. At first, they had to convince people to come to the winter market. Sales have been good and sustained this year. Grass fed beef, sustainbly raised pork, local cheeses. Local food is growing.

“People are becoming more and more engaged on local food. That's gotta be the driving factor. People want to know where their food is coming from now more than ever. They want to know what's in their food more than ever, or more than in many decades since we started making franken-foods a part of our daily lives. And I think we're turning a corner back to a sustainable, local view. Is it better to get organic spinach that was grown by, you know, migrant workers that are treated horribly in California by a certified organic grower or is it better to come down and get it from one of our local farmers and maybe it's not certified organic but it's certainly no spray no pesticides used. So what's the trade-off there? You're looking at your carbon footprint, you're looking at social justice in a lot of ways, you're looking at freshness, you're looking at flavor, and you're looking at the local economy. Keeping more dollars in the local economy always is a good thing, so I think people are really starting to engage on those issues more and that drives their purchasing. We are a beneficiary of that.” -Alison Einerson

“Like everything, food is political. Not everyone looks at it that way. whether you look at it that way or not your decisions on where you buy your food are political decisions in a lot of ways and so I want people to think about it.”

Very competitive market. They have a lot of bakeries already so it's tight.

“One lovely young lady in her 20's started making Kombucha, got passionate about a product, started giving it to her friends, started selling at the market, and now she's a permanent vendor with a storefront in Salt Lake.”

“The Farmer's Market is a pretty big economic driver.” -Einerson

A lot of vendors got their start at the Farmer's Market and now have storefront locations of their own. Bring something new to the table and see if you can find an audience for it. Also lots of crafts and artisans. Food trucks. Jordan Riley makes fresh pressed apple cider on site. Buskers are allowed.

Had an ice carving festival. Park City Culinary institute came with a sushi demo and hearty winter soup instruction. CSA tribute. Pick the ones right for you.

Kit, owner of Food Cartel food truck. Used to sell Crepes up by the U and use over 80% local ingredients. “The market wasn't right for Crepes, the students up there were looking for bigger portions, so I started selling Korean food. Bigger portions.” “It was really nice when I was buying 80% local ingredients, but it's just not economical now.”

Inmates and guards from the Salt Lake County Jail sell their produce from their garden program at the market. It is a minimum security program for prisoners on good behavior. The prisoners absolutely love it.

A not-for-profit SLC organization, Green Urban Lunch Box, sells flavorful varieties of jam such as peach citrus and cherry jalapeno. The products are highly priced to divert resources to food banks. One 12 oz jar of preserves is about $7. “A purchase of 7 dollars gives 6 pounds of fruit and vegetables to a local food bank.” -Aaron Porter, volunteer coordinator. The organization began with mobile greenhouse aboard a converted schoolbus.

“The idea started with a college friend’s wishful desire to replace the concrete parking lot outside her college dorm with a small garden plot, which led to a discussion about how difficult it can be to grow one's own vegetables in an urban environment. Through some brainstorming, our ideas expanded from planting a garden in a small trailer to creating a large, mobile garden. We landed on the concept of cultivating vegetables inside a fully functional school bus.

We know a bus is not the most logical place to plant a garden; however not much about our current food system is logical. Growing food and transporting it across the country produces food that is tasteless, expensive and damaging to the environment. With the increasing cost of food (due in large part to the cost of transporting mass-produced vegetables), we feel the small initial expense of starting a garden supports the benefits of taste, cost savings, health, exercise, and a clean environment.
We understand, however, that growing food in a converted school bus will not solve the many problems in our current food system. We hope to use The Green Urban Lunch Box and all of our programs to educate and motivate individuals regarding issues related to food production and healthy eating.” (thegreenurbanlunchbox.com) 

In addition to the mobile greenhouse, the Green Urban Lunbox also has a community farm and orchard, as well as a back-farm program and fruit share program. The back-farm program connects individuals without enough land to garden with seniors who have open yard space for a garden where younger individuals can plant a garden. Many volunteers are involved in these programs. Food stamps are also accepted at the Farmer's Market, making it possible for low income households to get fresh, local produce.