A new, grassroots approach to nurturing small farms

If you are nervous about getting sick from cyclospora by eating lettuce from California or Mexico, there is a simple solution: buy from local farms. The Rochester Public Market is a great place to find locally grown produce if you pay attention to who is running the stand you buy from. You can be sure you are buying from local farms if you go to Shed D on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and buy from a new stand: Fresh Farmers Together.

This new collaborative launched in June. FFT is a grassroots, farmer-led association of very small farms. So far, nine farms have paid their dues to join FFT, though the number is expected to grow. The “largest” of them has three acres in production. They are located in Rochester, Irondequoit, Lima, Walworth, Palmyra, and Churchville. FFT does not own any of the crops it sells; instead, the collaboratie aggregates product on a weekly basis from participating growers based on availability, and sells most of it at its Rochester Public Market booth.

A central priority of FFT is to increase the number of new farms, especially farms owned and managed by BIPOC farmers, in the Rochester area and to provide them with supplemental training in agroecological practices and business management so that they can provide a decent living for farmers and farmworkers based on fair prices and fair working conditions. A hope is that public enthusiasm for this new group will help the farmers gain access to more land.

Farmer participants agree to uphold the group’s quality and packing standards as set by the participants together and to provide product in a timely manner. Though none is certified organic, all of the farms use sustainable practices, avoiding synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, toxic pesticides and herbicides, and relying on building soil health through nutrient recycling, cover cropping, compost, and rotations.

I visited Quintessa McFadden’s Root of the Matter Farm on a quiet residential street in the city’s northeast quadrant. Quintessa learned the delight of growing things from her grandmother who brought to Rochester the farming and cooking skills she learned on the family farm in South Carolina. By age 12, Quintessa had her own garden. Throughout her career sitting at a computer working for big companies, she has longed to be outside all day. Besides selling through FFT, she has launched a small CSA and offers services in garden design. Her hope is to expand from a sizable backyard garden to two acres. Together with FFT member Melinda Friday, Quintessa envisions creating a learning farm with a greenhouse divided into different climate zones, a community hub where school children and older people can access healthy food and share skills

In her tiny urban farm, Quintessa showed how she protects kale and collard greens from insects by using row covers. Melinda showed off the insulated interior she built into a trailer that is parked at the public market to make it as convenient as possible for FFT farmers to deliver and store their produce.

Seeded Earth is the name of Melinda’s farm, currently taking up a quarter of the half-acre lot behind her home in Irondequoit. A skilled carpenter, Melinda has spent the past four years working on area farms to learn the craft of farming. In addition to being an active member of the FFT steering committee, Melinda transformed a trailer into a walk-in cooler where the farmers store their produce for the weekly sales. Melinda sees FFT as more than a local food service:  “Growing clean and sustainably isn’t just about healthy food,” she says, “it’s about propagating community focused on environmental and social justice. It’s about encouraging a more equitable and resilient future. We hope you’ll join us!”

Taking the lead as the FFT coordinator, Jennie Brant is the steady presence at the public market booth. Jennie farms at Enka:ri Farm in Walworth where she has created growing areas in the usual ordered rows with a solid fence to keep out critters as well as highly diverse permaculture plantings of fruit and nut trees, pawpaws and berry bushes. Her intention, she declares, “is to grow delicious food for our community while keeping the local flora and fauna and the seventh generation front of mind.”

Well-known in this area for his excellent garlic, Ed Fraser is the most well-seasoned member of FFT and is generous with helpful advice for the newcomers on organic production and marketing. At Fraser Garlic Farm, in addition to the headline crop, Ed grows potatoes and other vegetables, and supplies garlic in all its forms—scapes, young garlic, mature cloves.

To become an FFT member, farmers agree to uphold the group’s quality and packing standards as set by the participants together and to provide product in a timely manner. FFT operates as a nonprofit, and any net income at the end of the financial year will be distributed back to the grower participants. Their work together is based on the cooperative values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of the international cooperative movement, FFT participants believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others.

Please visit their booth at the Rochester Public Market! You can also follow them on Instagram—FreshFarmersRoc—to find out more about each member farmer and see what’s at the market each week.

Elizabeth Henderson is an organic farmer, co-chair of the Interstate Council policy committee of the Northeast Organic Farming Association and Interstate Council representative on the Board of the Agricultural Justice Project.

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