Markets of the mind

You see it in their faces – radiating smiles as loads of beets the color of clown reef fish, potatoes shaped like the fingers of leprechauns, and organic eggs with yolks brighter than marigolds in full bloom are laid out on rickety tables. Men and women with sun furrows in their foreheads show their sun bounty of every imaginable food in the region. More than 125 farmers markets in the state of Washington do their magic in communities that depend on the farmers and produce growers to bring the bounty of earth and soil to them. In some people’s imaginations – like the planners and mayors of great cities like Barcelona, Spain – a fresh food and flower market has to be within one-quarter of a mile walking distance to every person living in the city. Conversations and healthy food cooking and prep tips abound. Young people see that tomatoes come from a vine, not some PepsiCo taco wrapper. Farmers markets of ever shape and form – ranging from permanent structures of old called public markets, to back-of-the flat bed affairs, and cool barter fair-looking things in between – add not only value to a neighborhood’s vibrancy and economic vitality. Farmers markets deliver healthy food and products to people of all social strata. They help support small area farms. They reorient people to a neighborhood scale of things to come. They are quaint and real and fun and something EVERY real estate developer or agent worth his or her listing directory would love to put down on the future sale home description. Now look away from the market and sun and rain. Look at those oak-lined offices under fluorescent haze. See sallow faces of the unimaginative kind – political addicts in state legislatures and governors who have lost their way in the world, too decrepit of mind and heart to fight for the programs that count. Washington’s backward-looking governor is ready to put the kibosh on the State’s WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program. Get real – this WIC program provides low-income mothers and children vouchers to buy directly from farmers at farmers markets. That is paying it forward, to use the parlance of the time. Healthy eating habits save our economy, if you look at it from an economist’s point of view. Old tired politicians who only see life in 18-month or 36-month cycles, too myopic to demand from every millionaire and billionaire, every multinational outfit and Boeing-like CEO, to pony up and pay for their share of the American safety net, they are overseeing a complete dismantling of communities. Really. Last year, the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program in the state garnered $613,000 in federal dollars. We have more and more interest in farmers markets around the region. City planners and visionaries are seeing rising transportation costs as impediments to food systems based on shipping melons from Costa Rica and apples from China. The federal dollars coming to us should be doubled each year. The CEOs of Albertsons and Wal-Mart and the industrial grocery chains need to pay for their fat investment portfolios on the backs of farmers, who on average see one cent of every 100 cents of food profits made at the retail level. So, this governor and other policy people in Olympia are shrews with the people’s money when they say no more state support for this WIC program after 2012. Since Down to Earth is a blog and e-Magazine all in one, and the writers vary from funky crafters to political junkies and all the way to left-wing activists, this is a breaking story that needs a platform on an Internet thing called a green blog. Any individual and especially organization you can think of to sign onto the attached letter endorsing the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition program in Washington — which is an easy $50,000 transfer of funds to keep the State’s program up so those federal dollars can be had — should down load the letter here; fill out a few lines; then email back to the Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network. Then attach to an email to: Ellen Gray, egray@wsffn.org. Here are some of the early signees – WSFFN, Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington, WA State Farmers Market, AssociationAnti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition, Nutrition First, Northwest Harvest, Food Lifeline, Within Reach, Children’s Alliance, Catholic Charities of Spokane, South Perry Farmers Market, Ornery Heron Farm, Seattle Farmers Market, Tacoma Farmers Market, Proctor Farmers Market, Tilth Producers of Washington. Or, dial for the governor’s conscience — WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program (WIC FMNP) Needs Your Calls to Olympia 1-800-562-6000.