Fruit and vegetable hub planned in Sacramento to help backyard farmers

October 25, 2009, Sacramento - One of the first priorities that local farmers in South Sacramento have since Soil Born won a government grant is to create new opportunities for Southeast Asian immigrant farmers in South Sacramento. It's going to be a new produce hub. And the goal of keeping food here in the area will have the help of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG). View a Soil Born Farms slideshow about the project.

Soil Born, an urban agriculture and education project, located in the Rancho Cordova area of Sacramento, recently won a $240,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Food Project. This is the first time Sacramento has won such an award in the federal program's history since the program began in1996.

Several ways to fight hunger in Sacramento, which does exist, is through community farms, famers' markets, and local produce hubs. Produce from this area's small farms fuel the "eat-local" movement and also feed the community. The produce also can be sold to schools for meals served to children as the number public school students from low-income homes rises in this area.

Soil Born Farms allows youth and adults to rediscover and participate in a system of food production and distribution that promotes healthy living, nurtures the environment and brings people together to share the simple pleasures of living life in harmony with nature. Soil Born Farms is committed to developing programming focused on organic food production, healthy food education and food access for all residents.

The plan, part of a vision of a local farming-based voice of resilience and self-confidence, is about crafting a rural sustainability strategy for the Sacramento region. Rural sustainability is basic: grow and sell local fruits and vegetables in a produce hub right here instead of shipping farm produce to other states.

In Sunday's Sacramento Bee, a news article appears, "Plan for nonprofit produce-handler part of local-food movement," Sunday, Oct 25, 2009, that promises to create a hub for vegetable and fruit produce in Sacramento from local farmers' harvests that each year will feed local school lunches and area-wide farmers' markets.

It's about time because annually, area farmers here are sending to distant locations more than 3.4 million tons of vegetables and fruits grown locally. When we walk into Sacramento supermarkets, we see organic apples imported from Chile, oranges from Australia, fruit from New Zealand, Fiji, ginger from Tawian, sun dried tomatoes from Turkey, and other far-away places. Why isn't the local produce in area supermarkets?

Right now, according to the Sacramento Bee article, Soil Born Farms in Sacramento's Rancho Cardova is "at the hub" of a movement "to get more of Sacramento's bounty" into Sacramento. Some local farmers use their back yard to grow produce, if they have large enough space, even one-acre plots.

Many of the small local area farmers are in south Sacramento. Some are Southeast Asian immigrants. When the center for produce, the vegetable and fruit hub is set up in Sacramento, these farmers could bring in their produce to the center. When many small, local farmers bring in the vegetables and fruit, all that produce coul be put together like a salad bowl to sell to school cafeterias. That way schools could be serving more vegetables and fruits instead of trying to cut back on fresh fruits and vegetables in school meals.

Why not set up neighborhood farm stands and have block parties to sell whole food products such as pomegrantates in season, figs in late summer, or basic vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, and whatever else grows with the seasons in Northern California.

There's an incredible demand for local food in Sacramento. Mainstream distributors could also buy from local farmers. It's a vision, but it will come into being because it's being backed by a federal grant.

The federal grant is for the purpose of using local food networks to solve problems in Sacramento related to obesity, diabetes, and other nutrition-related issues as well as lack of available fruits and vegetables in poorer neighborhoods locally in Sacramento and Yolo County.

Go visit the local Sacramento Farmers' Markets. There's one under the W-X Freeway in Sacramento on Sunday mornings and another in the parking lot of the Country Club Shopping Center bordering on Butano, near El Camino and Watt on Saturday mornings from 9:00 am to 12 noon.

According to the Sacramento Bee article, market research shows that the fastest-growing grocery source for the Sacramento area Wal-Mart Supercenters, is "almost certainly outstripping" the growing sales at farmers' markets.

It's about time produce buyers turned to farmers' markets more often. It would be great if farmers' markets were held in neighborhoods so people wouldn't have to drive to the big supercenters for a few tomatoes. In the Sacramento area, tomato processing and rice take up huge amounts of acreage feeding the growing overseas demand as well as national market for Sacramento's produce. For more information, you can check out the website of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG).

The Council's goal is rural sustainability strategies for Sacramento and Yolo counties. Public participation is a critical part of SACOG programs and planning activities. SACOG actively seeks opportunities to ensure and encourage robust public involvement in all program areas, from the earliest planning stages to implementation of specific solutions. All SACOG meetings and hearings are open to the public.

Photo credits: USDA photo file for the media.