DOWNTOWN FARMSTAND GIVES VOICE TO FARMERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Dave Ring is a leader in the Muncie community not only because he provides healthy, ethically-obtained food for locals that would otherwise lack access or either have difficulty acquiring fair-trade organic food without his store, The Downtown Farmstand: An Authentic Food Store, but he is also a leader because he has effectively given a voice to the plight that farmers face when trying to produce crops at a living wage that is not harmful for their health.

     During a brunch that Ring held alongside Melinda Messineo, chairperson of the department of sociology, for Freshmen Connection’s Sophomore Read Program. Ring discussed topics featured in the book “Where am I eating” by Muncie native, Kelsey Timmerman, such as: fair-trade, the importance of supporting the local economy, the danger of pesticide exposure and farmers.

     Although Ring now has a passion for educating the community on the previously mentioned topics, he did not originally pursue the creation of his store just to educate the masses; he did it meet the needs that he along with multitude of other organic farmers had to present their produce to the public.

     Ring said that “We [him and his wife Sarah] never had an intention to start a store, that was not our plan, we did it because we couldn’t sale everything that we were producing or promoting at our farm and all the other organic farmers were in the same position.”

     He continued by saying “ You’re [local organic farmers] shot out of local stores, local economies, there’s really no way to break even, there’s farmer’s markets [but] some farmer’s markets are much better than others…”

     Furthermore, Ring pointed out that it’s tougher for organic farmers in farmer markets, because some farmer markets are not producer only, which typically means that some people go to farmer’s markets with an abundance of cheap, non-organically produced vegetables and fruit and sale them at a much cheaper price to the public.

     This occurrence usually causes dissonance between customers and farmers because the customers believe that they are being cheated by the organic farmers.

     Customers are not aware that the reason why these people, who are not producers, are only able to sale their produce at such a cheap price than most other farmers could not afford to live off of is because is they did not have work to produce the goods.

     Furthermore, Ring spoke about the importance of fair-trade when buying goods that cannot be locally produced. Not only does fair-trade ensure that the people who are producing the goods foreign countries are not being enslaved or poorly paid for their work, but fair-trade is also known to help enrich the economy and life of workers in foreign countries.

     According to Fair Trade USA, fair-trade agreements help foster a multitude of benefits for the communities that are effected by the agreement. Foreign farmers in foreign are taught how to use sustainable practices for their farming, workers lean how to negotiate for fair wages, women gain access to healthcare, and revenues from the fair-trade ventures are set aside to help benefit the education system in that community ( Fair Trade USA 2010).

     Another important topic that Ring brought to the forefront of the conversation was the potential dangers that farmers and subsequently the children of the farmers who help them work the field face when dealing with chemicals, specially herbicides that discourage growth of weeds in corn and various other crops produced in the U.S.

    In the United States, of the estimated two million agricultural workers who work in this country, physicians diagnose 10,000 to 20,000 pesticide poisonings each year” (The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH], 2011).

     Furthermore, for Indiana alone last year pesticide manufacturers registered 15, 047 pesticide products for sale and distribution. (Waltz 2013).

     “This number exceeds the ten year annual average for Indiana of 14,210. It also exceeds the ten year average of 12,623 products registered by neighboring states” (Waltz 2013).

     Moreover, of the 27,410 pesticide credentials that the Office of Indiana State Chemist issued last year, 11,358 were issued to farmers using pesticides (Waltz 2013).

     The main herbicide used by farmers in the Midwest is atrazine, which is used on 80% of their corn producing acres each year (OISC 2003).

      Atrazine is particularly a cause for concern because it is considered water-soluble, which means during the rainy seasons such as April and May the water sources surrounding the herbicide treated crops are highly susceptible to exposure to this chemical in potential drinking water supplies (ISCO 2003).

     The potential exposure to this chemical is suggested to be taken seriously by the Natural Resources Defense Council, who says that exposure to atrazine has led to reproductive and hormone problems as well as cancer amongst studies conducted with animals.(NRDC 2011).

     Not only has the Downtown Farmstand helped to nourish their community, it has helped to economically stimulate it as well, by pumping over one million dollars back into the local economy since its creation in 2007 (The Downtown Farmstand 2013a.)

      Ring has also created a delivery for The Downtown Farmstand to help provide nuritous food for anyone who seeks it. So whether out of necessity or convenience people can have healthy groceries delivered to them for at the low cost $35 dollars, which is the minimum expenditure, needed for free delivery (The Downtown Farmstand 2013b.).

     Ring’s innovative thinking and passion for sustainability and fair-trade has not only helped to fulfill the community’s empty bellies, but it has also helped to quench thirst for knowledge and equality.