This book provided me with me an educational insight into farmer’s markets impact on communities and individuals. In chapter four, the author talked about farmer’s markets and how they offer their products to all sorts of individuals of class and lifestyle. The author highlighted how important the farmer’s markets are to Hawaii and its community in comparison to other communities. These markets are one of the main ways individuals in Hawaii can have access to fresh food. There is an effort in Hawaii to increase the amount of markents in hopes to have substainable farming in the future. This chapter talked about the different farmer markets and what they offer. There are four different catagories of markets such as: Anything Goes Markets, private markets, people’s open markets and Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation-Sponsored Markets. The author dove deeper and started talking about Farm security vs Food security. In this portion of the book the author discussed how native hawiians have a hard time reaching the food markets and are in a food desert type situation. The barrier between them and fresh food can cause major health issues such as obesity and heart issues. The author ended the chapter talking by talking about how the “food situation won’t change overnight”, but they are raising awareness and pushing for substainable farming in Hawaii.
In chapter 7, the author discussed women in Hawaii’s agriculture and farms. There has been a large increase in women working in agriculture over the years, particularly in organic farming. Organic farming is becoming very popular and has huge ramifications in the US economy. It was interesting to hear the farmer’s stories. The author interviewed several women farmers and it was cool to hear how most of them started their own farms and weren’t just married into a farming family. The author went on to discuss the issues with organic farming that affected these Hawaain farmers such as GMO’s and pests.
This reading was very interesting. It showed how much Hawaii and it’s communities rely on farmers markets and local produce.
