Dear Friends of Community Farmers Markets (CFM):
We are reaching out with more information regarding our weekly farmers markets, and our commitment to all the members of our interconnected community.
We are open for business, honoring our commitment to our farmers, vendors, and community.
We have always believed in the importance of providing fresh, healthy, locally-grown food for our communities. As our food system faces new challenges, it’s especially important that we continue to provide (and match) EBT/SNAP dollars for folks at market. Additionally, we have always understood it is our responsibility to provide safe, inclusive spaces for people to access produce and products. Many of our farmers and vendors rely on the farmers markets as their primary source of income. It is important that we support our vendors so that our growers and producers can stay in business, while we remain vigilant and committed to the health and safety of our community.
We rely on the support and cooperation of everyone in our community to help our farmers and vendors to survive during these uncertain times. After all, our local food ecosystem may be the saving grace during this time of mass-produced product shortages. There is no shortage of food and goods at our local markets!
Here are some benefits of shopping at the farmers markets:
- Farmers markets are largely open air gatherings, rather than contained stores.
- Locally-grown produce has known sources with fewer touch points than a conventional grocery system.
- Maintaining a healthy diet is more important than ever. Eat those fruits, veggies, and herbs!
We are closely monitoring the situation and official recommendations via the CDC, local agencies, the FDA, and WHO and will keep you all informed as things change.
Keeping our vendors, customers, and staff healthy and safe is our number one priority. As such, we’d like to highlight the following reminders and changes at market:
At Market:
- We are asking anyone showing any signs of illness (fever, cough, etc) to stay home and not attend the farmers markets. When in doubt, stay home.
- If you believe that you have been exposed to illness, even if you do not show symptoms, stay home and do not attend the farmers markets.
- If you are not ill or exposed, please come out and support – our hard working vendors need your patronage for their businesses to survive!
- While browsing at the market, please avoid touching produce and products – please let your market vendor help you with selection, when possible, to limit excess touching.
- Hand sanitizer will be available for shoppers at the Market Information Booth and throughout the market. Please follow the CDC’s recommendations:
- Everyone is cooperating to ensure cleanliness of “high touch” items and areas, such as card readers and touch screens. Because it’s unclear how long the virus lives on surfaces, we want to be abundantly cautious.
- According to a statement released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “We are not aware of any reports at this time of human illnesses that suggest COVID-19 can be transmitted by food or food packaging. However, it is always important to follow good hygiene practices (i.e., wash hands and surfaces often, separate raw meat from other foods, cook to the right temperature, and refrigerate foods promptly) when handling or preparing foods.”
- We will have a zero-tolerance policy for market staff or vendors who attend the market if they are experiencing illness.
Moving Forward:
CFM has a task-force made up of experts and informed community members to advise us on how to move forward. As we move into our full 2020 market season, we will continue to monitor the pandemic, while maintaining our commitment to access to fresh food. We will continue to reach out periodically as spring approaches.
Finally, we want to remind everyone that this virus should not an opportunity for discrimination or racism of any kind, we encourage everyone to help prevent spreading fears and social stigmas.
Our continued success hinges on everyone’s participation and cooperation. We thank you for your help in keeping the farmers markets open and safe for all. Thank you for supporting your local farmers markets.
