2015 Farmers Market Advocate Awards Announced
The Illinois Farmers Market Association (IFMA) announced the 2015 Farmers Market Advocate Award winners at its recent 2015 Farmers Market Conference on March 24th in Springfield.
The awards were established to highlight those individuals who are going above and beyond to make a difference for farmers markets in Illinois.
The Farmers Advocate Awards are a great way to highlight some really special people and draw attention to their hard work in expanding local food at farmers markets in Illinois.
The 2015 winners are:
The Honorable Michael W. Tryon, Assistant Republican Leader and Representative in the 66th legislative District
“Representative Tryon stands above the rest as one of the Illinois General Assembly’s local food and farmers market champions, working with him to pass legislative reforms that support farmers markets and local food has been a pleasure,” said Wes King Executive Director of Illinois Stewardship Alliance. “If more legislators shared his passion and commitment for healthy local food, there would be a farmers markets in every town, city and village in Illinois and local sustainably raised food and farm products on the menu at most restaurants.”
Representative Tryon is a founding member of the Illinois Legislative Diabetes Caucus and speaks openly about how he balances a demanding career and his Type II diabetes. Representative Tryon has been honored with many awards and recognitions during his time in the General Assembly, including the Champion of Free Enterprise Award, the Environmental Council Award, the Outstanding Environmental Leadership Award, the Friend of Agriculture Award and the Legislator of the Year Award from the Staffing Services Association of Illinois and from the IL Association of Community Mental Health Authorities.
Debbie Shelden is an Associate Professor of Special Education at Illinois State University.
Debbie does not have a farm or farm related business or organization. She said “I’m just a community member interested in supporting a stronger local food network”. That support comes in a few different ways. She tries to support and promote our farmers market and CSA shares. She uses her Face book page to post about upcoming market dates, to post pictures of the bounty from the market (I love doing that in the midst of winter—folks have no idea what variety of local produce they have access to in January and February!) or food that I’ve prepared from that bounty. I try to tag the local farms in those posts so my Face book world becomes more familiar with our local producers. I also push CSA shares, particularly for the farm that I belong to, trying to connect friends to split shares as a first entry into joining a CSA. I’ve also been a volunteer for our Farm to Food Pantry program, which gleans extra produce from farmers at the end of market and distributes it to folks in one of our neighborhoods with limited fresh produce access. And I help out farmers with their market stands.
She is also actively involved in efforts to open Green Top Grocery, a new cooperative grocery store for the Bloomington-Normal area. She became an owner shortly after moving to BloNo in late 2012 and in April of 2013 joined the Outreach Committee. She is also partnering with one of the local farmers to start a local Crop Mob. Crop Mobs started in North Carolina years ago, but there is not one in this area. The idea is that a group of people—farmers and non-farmers—come together for a day of special projects to support a small farmer. Crop Mob BloNo had its first mob last October, gathering and sorting potatoes for a small farmer. Our next Mob will be in May, clearing a new field for another farmer. And we hope to have monthly Mobs from May through November this year. I love that Crop Mob gives people another layer of farmer support—putting in some hard labor but also building a sense of community among farmers.
She has great interest in both sustainable food and overall food justice.” I think we must address those two issues together. Everyone needs access to fresh produce, and everyone should have access to clean, fresh produce. We have so much to do on this front—I’ve just found myself in these few areas that are small pieces of the big picture. A lot of other folks are doing the work. It’s a great community. “
Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant is a Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator at the University of Illinois Extension,
Deborah has been working in sustainable agriculture since 1985; in her current position as a Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator since 2011. Deborah first got involved in the fields of local food and sustainable agriculture 1985 working as a Resource Planner working for the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources. She has spent much of her professional and personal life working in the area of sustainable agriculture – integrating the goals of environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. She believes that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. She said she is excited to be involved with the Illinois Farmers Market Association “partnering with local community and state organizations in educating the farmers, market managers and the general public on the economic, health and social benefits of providing and promoting consumption of fresh, locally grown products at farmers markets.”
Wes King, Executive director of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance.
Wes is the Executive Director for the Illinois Stewardship Alliance which promotes environmentally sustainable, economically viable, socially just, local food systems through policy development, advocacy, and education. The Illinois Stewardship Alliance has been working to promote land stewardship, local food and sustainable agriculture for over 40 years. Wes also directs and leads the ISA policy advocacy work both on the state and federal level where he works to develop, monitor and promote local food and sustainable agriculture policy.
I have been with Illinois Stewardship Alliance for 5 years now and began as the policy coordinator. Illinois Stewardship Alliance is unique in that we are one of the only organizations in IL developing and advocating for public policy that supports local food and sustainable agriculture the state and federal level. Wes joined Illinois Stewardship Alliance in the spring of 2009 as Policy Coordinator and later as Policy Director, in September of 2013 I started work as Executive Director
“I am motivated by a strong sense of place and social justice and I am very concerned about the long-term sustainability of the planet. Localized and environmentally sustainable agriculture systems are foundational to building resilient and thriving communities in a future that will be marked increasingly by climate change and resource depletion”. In his free time, Wes loves to garden, cook, kayak and bike.
Robin Schirmer, Project Coordinator of Band of Farmers: The Chicagoland CSA Coalition, a project of Illinois Stewardship Alliance. Band of Farmers is a farmer-led Coalition to enable CSA farmers to “band” together to educate consumers about local foods in general and the CSA model in particular.
Though the Coalition has been in the works for over 15 months, we went “live” in March 2015 by inviting membership from among the 90+ CSA farms that serve the Chicagoland area.CSA is one of the only methods of direct marketing between farmers and the consumers who eat their food. (Farmers markets and farm stands are the others.) The number of CSA farms serving Chicagoland has grown from 30 to 90 in the past six years; yet there are roughly the same number of households in Chicagoland being served with CSAs as there are in the Madison, Wisconsin, metro area—despite the huge disparity in population between the two metro areas. This tells us that there is a lot of education to do about the benefits of CSAs as a way of receiving locally grown, nutrient dense foods. I’ve been involved with local foods and farmers since 2007 when I met Tony Ends, a farmer with Scotch Hill Farm in Wisconsin who was pioneering winter farmers’ markets held in churches through an organization called Churches’ Center for Land and People (CCLP). In previous winter seasons (November through March) CCLP had organized several such markets in the Madison area and a handful in the Chicago area as a way to provide farmers with opportunities to market their farmstead goods in the off-season. (This was several years before other Chicago-area farmers markets such as Green City, Logan Square, 61st Street, Evanston, Glenwood, and Andersonville ventured into markets in the deep winter months of January through March.)
These markets were held on a one-time basis in churches throughout the greater Chicago area. I offered to coordinate these markets for the 2007-08 season and jumped in with both feet, creating a 19-market season over five months in over a dozen venues; the following year, I coordinated 29 markets in about 20 different venues. In the 2009-10 (third) season, I was shadowed by an intern from Faith in Place and beginning with the 2010-11 season Faith in Place has taken over coordination. Through my association with Tony Ends I always looked at farmers’ markets with a farmer-first bias. While recognizing the balance between customers’ needs and farmer-vendor needs, I would always consider the needs of the farmers first. This has led me to a “less is more” approach when it comes to winter farmers’ markets as compared to summer markets. Farmers who make the trip to the city with farm goods during the winter months benefit when there is pent-up demand among consumers. Until season-extension becomes so much the norm that weekly markets in the traditional off-season are feasible, one-off, bi-weekly, or monthly markets make sense to take advantage of that pent-up demand.
If you know of someone deserving of this award, please send your nomination to Pat Stieren.
CONTACT:
Pat Stieren, Executive Director, IFMA
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Past Farmers Market Advocate Award Winners ( 2013)
- Lt Governor Sheila Simon Lt Governor Sheila Simon has been a strong leader and Advocate for local food and Farmers Markets throughout Illinois. Her leadership of the Illinois EBT Wireless Project will soon increase the number of markets in Illinois that can accept SNAP/EBT/LINK by more than 50%. Her office has been instrumental in coordinating this project, thereby bringing 29 Illinois Farmers Markets closer to providing broader access to farm fresh foods for underserved populations.
- State Senator David Koehler/ When people think about local food, farmers markets and the Illinois General Assembly, Senator David Koehler is the first person who comes to mind. Senator Koehler has made a point of being vocal regarding the need for policy makers and communities to support the growing local food movement. Senator Koehler understands both the economic and health potential of local food. In his job as a State Senator he has actively supported farmers markets through sponsorship and co-sponsorship of related legislation.
- Senator Dave Luechtefeld Senator Luechetfeld has been a Farmers Market Advocate for most of his life. After many legislative proposals that focused on creation of a Farmers Market Task Force failed to be enacted, Senator Luechtefeld sponsored SB 1852 which established the Illinois Farmers Market Task Force. This new law established the creation of a Farmers Market Task Force that is now working to create less confusing, more uniform, better streamlined, and less burdensome statewide regulations in regards to Farmers Markets throughout the state.
- State Rep. 17th District Laura State Rep. Laura Fine (D-Glenview) is a new legislator, but a strong advocate for Farmers Markets and is promoting an Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) program designed to help consumers identify locally grown produce. Rep Fine believes that fresh produce has the most vitamins and nutrients for our children and families, but at the grocery store it is difficult to know where the produce is grown.
- Penny Roth, Chief of the Bureau of Family Nutrition, Dept of Human Services
Throughout her career, Penny Roth has given her time, knowledge and skills in supporting farmers markets throughout Illinois. Through her leadership, the program expanded to more markets and communities, giving women, children and the elderly the opportunity to have increased increased access to fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables at farmer markets. - Anthony Pedote , Market Manager for the Elgin Winter Farmers Market
Anthony Pedote, creator and leader of the Elgin Farmers’ Market, has made a significant difference for all Illinois farmers’ markets by crafting a model which exceeds that of the traditional market. Anthony has developed the Market into a hub of community activity by partnering with organizations that make significant contributions to the well- being of several sectors of Elgin and its surrounding area. Locating the Farmers’ Market inside the Habitat for Humanity ReStore makes local farmers’ produce available to ReStore clients and volunteers as well as the general public.
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