Locally Grown Vegetables at Farmers Markets – Does the produce come from an Alley Way garden?
What is agriculture? In the United States, where agriculture is a huge industry with tens or thousands of square miles of farmland that is adequately irrigated and managed by corporate farms or large family farms, we understand the agribusiness. Yes, that is agriculture. But when you really stop to think about it, agriculture is just the growing of products for human consumption. And it has been going on for tens of thousands of years. What if I told you that much of the produce you buy at your local farmers markets comes from personal gardens, food not grown with the care of a large farm?
Not long ago, I went to a farmers market in Los Angeles, in the city. As I was walking around and looking at what people had to sell, there was a lady showing a photo of her garden, which was an alley behind her house where she grew fruits and vegetables right there in town. She was quite proud of what she had grown, but off to the side in some of the photos I noticed that the alley was littered with garbage, dumpsters, and even illegally dumped household chemicals and old motor oil.
Who can say that this soil is not completely contaminated? Who’s to say you’re using the right fertilizers, pesticides, or anything else? No one is monitoring the produce you are growing on property you probably don’t even own, it seemed to be city property and a form of easement for garbage trucks to drive between. I actually got to thinking about this and was doing some research. It seems that many people have come to the United States and grow their vegetables just as they did in the countries they came from.
They see nothing wrong with this, and are making a little extra money for their household by selling some of the surplus produce. In a way, they too are farmers and are doing what little they can with what little they have. But I ask you; Is that really agriculture? Is that really what we think of when we consider the product we want to buy?
She pointed out to me that everything she sold was organic, but if that’s organic, I’m a little worried, not for me because I didn’t buy anything from her, but for human health in general, and all the other buyers at the farmers. market that day. And as usual, she sells products every week. In fact, I hope you will please consider all of this and think about it.