If all the news about the coronavirus and the state of unrest have you tense, one way you might relax and get your mind off of things is by taking a stroll through a new farmers’ market and buying some fresh and healthy food that might just help boost your immune system.

Beginning on Saturday, June 27, the Greensboro NAACP – working alongside of the NC NAACP’s Anti-Poverty Committee and the Guilford Urban Farming Initiative – will start holding weekly “Bountiful Land Food for All Farmers Markets.” The kickoff event will be at 1901 McConnell Road in Greensboro on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The market project has two main goals: (1) to bring “fresh, whole, affordable foods to local food deserts,” and, (2) to offer a new commercial outlet for farmers of color.

In recent years, some have argued that Greensboro and Guilford County have a real problem with “food deserts” – areas where there are no stores selling affordable fresh healthy foods. Those communities may have a convenience store offering highly processed foods, but not the kind of healthily fare being offered at farmers’ markets and major grocery stores.

One purpose of the Bountiful Land farmers’ market is to help make sure that “black and brown growers are able to retain their family farms by keeping them productive.”

The market will also provide an outlet for the produce grown by the Guilford Urban Farming Initiative, which is an effort to offer direct-to-consumer, locally grown, seasonal produce that’s priced very affordably.

In a Monday, June 22 press release announcing the June kickoff, organizers stated that the move should also help combat the effects of the pandemic.

“The novel coronavirus has amplified the consequences that hunger and malnutrition impose on people who have no regular access to healthy, fresh, whole foods,” the press release states. “CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] demographics show that poor, underserved black and brown people, living in food deserts, are far more likely to suffer from obesity, heart disease, Diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and other negative health impacts, which make them overwhelmingly susceptible to contracting Covid 19 and dying from it. Therefore, it is more important than ever to correct this social injustice by making fresh food available to those in dire need.”

If anyone would like more information on the Bountiful Land Food for All Farmers Market, they can contact Dr. Deborah Barnes, the chair of the NC NAACP’s Anti-Poverty Committee at faitaccomplifarm@gmail.com.

 

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