People’s Food Coop / Ann Arbor Farmers Market – Ann Arbor, MI by Patty

Saturday, September 1. We continued our tour of the sustainable food scene in Ann Arbor (and my trip down memory lane) at the People’s Food Co-op, another local institution. The co-op is 35 years old and is member-owned.

We talked to Kevin who does outreach for the co-op and he filled us in on how they are always working to increase the amount of local products they sell. The challenges facing sustainable agriculture all over the country - aging farmers, urban sprawl gobbling up farmland, and high costs for new farmers who are just starting out – are all happening in southeastern Michigan.

Just a few years ago, the co-op was down to 8 local farmers supplying them. But after a lot of effort, the co-op has more options for buying local – they buy from about 24 local producers and many of those producers have started growing a bigger variety of crops. Hopefully soon, they will be adding more local options. Our host for the day, Kim Bayer of Slow Food Huron Valley (pictured above), was lobbying during our visit to get the co-op to start carrying flour milled from Michigan wheat.

The other interesting conversation we had with Kevin was about the co-op’s policy on carrying conventional and organic foods. PFC puts them on the shelf together, so customers have options for what they want to buy but they try to offset the higher cost of organic by having a lower markup on organic items. It’s the balance the members and staff of the co-op have struck as they navigate all the issues of environmental impact, economics, availability, and quality that go into buying food.

After the co-op, we crossed the street to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, yet another great option for local food. We were a little on the late side and folks were starting to pack up for the day, but there was still lots of beautiful produce, honey, flowers, jewelry, and other things there for us to admire. We visited the “tomato man” who had more varieties of heirloom tomatoes than I’ve ever seen and the folks from Tantre Farms who not only sell their organic produce at the market but also to over 200 members of their CSA.

Then it was time to leave Ann Arbor and head for the next town over, Ypsilanti. But that gave me a chance on the way out of town to point out every place I had ever lived, eaten, shopped, or hung out during my Ann Arbor years, which I’m sure all my tour-mates found riveting.

Article Tag(s):

If you are interested in commenting on this blog, please go to our forum...