Alison Stewart: This is All of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Let's talk farmer's markets. As the weather gets warmer, more New Yorkers flock to the open-air stalls in search of plants, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and a surprise or two, and maybe new ones are opening up with the summer months on the horizon. Many of those markets are run by GrowNYC. The environmental organization was founded in 1970. Liz Carollo is GrowNYC's Assistant Director of Food Access and Agriculture. She's here with me now to talk all things farmer's market. Hi, Liz.

Liz: Hey, Alison. Thanks for having me.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, tell us about your local farmer's market. Where is it? What do you get there? What's your favorite stand? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Are you a vendor at a farmer's market? This is your chance to tell listeners about your business. We want to hear from you. Even if you're involved in a farmer's market not affiliated with GrowNYC, you can help us fill in the gaps as well. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Grow WNYC began in 1970. What was the original mission?

Liz: GrowNYC was actually born out of the original Earth Day demonstrations in 1970. There was a group of citizens concerned about issues that were impacting the city at that time, not so different from now, noise, empty lots, cleanliness issues, and they were more of a think tank advisory to the mayor. Now GrowNYC today is so different. We're a programmatic organization, building and maintaining school and community gardens, providing education, nutrition education for young adults and older adults, and of course, the program nearest and dearest to my heart, Food Access and Agriculture, where we work with local farmers and sell at markets throughout the city.

Alison Stewart: You said it grew out of the Earth Day movement. How did farmer's markers become part of that mission?

Liz: That was in 1970. In 1976, our co-founder, Barry Benapee, who had spent some time in Europe, who sadly passed away a few weeks ago and was a true visionary, those that know Barry know his impact on the city is immeasurable, he looked around and he saw the streets and thought, "The streets could be more vibrant and I know how to do that. I'm going to invite farmers," who were facing severe development pressure upstate. Some were too small to participate in the growing wholesale market. He said, "I'm going to talk them into coming into the city and selling." He and our other co-founder, Bob Lewis, hit the pavement.

Barry on the city side securing the permits, and he sent Bob upstate. Bob talked the farmers into coming down and they set up that first market on 59th Street in a police precinct parking lot in July of 1976. We're going into our 49th season. It was in between Alexander's and Bloomingdale's. They knew on a Saturday that so many people would be going in between those two department stores. They were right. It was wall to wall people. It to them seemed like New York City hadn't seen a ripe tomato in years.

Alison Stewart: Just for the record, what exactly is a Greenmarket?

Liz: Oh, okay. A Greenmarket is a farmer's market with a nice name. Bob and Barry were smart enough to trademark a name there, but it's a farmer's market and we're producer only. That means that the producers that sell at our markets, our markets are set up for a sole mission. They are set up for farmers who are growing primarily- the easiest way to say it is a 200-mile radius around Poughkeepsie is our growing region. The producers come in.

There's farmers and there's producers selling farm-based products. Fishermen from Long Island. Primarily, our producers are coming from New York State, but we of course have farmers that are coming in from New Jersey, especially this time of year with all the asparagus and strawberries. Then we're serving New York City residents with access to fresh local food throughout all five boroughs. That's who's making up our markets today, those 200 producers.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Eleanor from the Upper West Side. Hi, Eleanor. Thank you for making time to call All of It today.

Eleanor: Hi. I'm so happy to be able to talk about my favorite farmers. I go to Union Square every Wednesday and I've been doing this for years. One of my favorite farmers is Lynn Haven. They sell goat's milk, yogurt and goat cheese, which is just delicious. I just love going down there, chatting with them and buying their products. I eat the yogurt almost every morning and put the feta cheese in omelettes and salads. Delicious.

One of my other favorites is blewit mushrooms, also at Union Square. They have all kinds of mushrooms. I always get the same things mostly. I get the cremini, which I chop up and put in omelettes, or I get the portobello, which I can either mix with pasta or make a sandwich out of. Those are my favorite farmers.

Alison Stewart: Sound like you have an excellent kitchen, by the way. Eleanor, thank you so much for calling in. Do the Greenmarkets, they have to have a certain number of stalls? I can picture a guy sitting there with a nice crate of fruit, but does it have to fall into any order, any rule?

Liz: Most people know our flagship at Union Square. When Bob and Barry opened that market in 59th Street, a few months later they opened in Union Square. That site alone is going also on 49 years and obviously had a big impact on that neighborhood. On a Saturday, you can find 80 vendors there. Even on a Wednesday, the market is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Even on a Wednesday, we're taking full capacity for our permit. A lot of our markets are smaller. I would say the average market has 12 to 15 stalls. A good variety of fruits, vegetables, seafood, breads and baked goods, honey, maple syrup, jams.

A good variety for a family to pick up what they need. Then we have a handful of sites that are a little bit smaller and exist for the sole purpose of food access in a specific neighborhood. A food access site where customers are shopping with a variety of nutrition benefits, everything from SNAP to the farmer's market nutrition program checks, Fresh Connect checks, that kind of thing. We are really just trying to get fresh fruits and vegetables into as many neighborhoods as possible. Our markets do range from anywhere from two to three producers, all the way up to the 80 that you can find at Union Square on a Saturday.

Alison Stewart: That's amazing. I'm speaking to Liz Carollo, Assistant Director of Food Access and Agriculture for GrowNYC. We're talking about farmer's markets, and we want to hear from you. What's your local market? What do you get there? Are you a vendor? You want to shout out your business at your local farmer's market? Our phone number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC, or you can reach out on social media @allofitwnyc. Now, how do vendors get involved with the Greenmarkets?

Liz: Great. On our website we have an intake form. To be eligible, for the most part we're looking for local farmers who sell what they grow and make from their harvest, or fishermen and women from Long Island and then local producers of bread, baked goods and preserves. Preserves in terms of jams or pickles, kimchis, that kind thing. Even then those producers have to prove that they're sourcing the ingredients for their products locally. We're very strict on the farmers selling farm-based products because that's what our permits allow and that's what our mission supports.

When producers or farmer within the region wants to join Greenmarket, they go to our website and fill out a simple eligibility intake form. Then we actually have an inspections and compliance team because that's how seriously we take this and the Greenmarket brand. The Greenmarket brand means that you're buying fresh and local, and our inspections and compliance team verifies that with each of our 200 producers that are in our program.

Alison Stewart: Does that what it means on your website when it says producer only markets or rigorous grow your own standards?

Liz: We tend to use a lot of lingo where it's like, what does that mean? Producer only market is exactly what it means is the farmer who grew it is the one there selling it directly to you.

Alison Stewart: Can you explain, it may sound obvious, but why that's important?

Liz: Oh, sure, yes, that's important. When I think about it from a broader view, I think we all love living in New York City, I'll say. One thing we also love about living in New York City is leaving New York City, getting a breath of fresh air, crossing a bridge and taking a deep breath. When you drive around New Jersey, upstate New York, these places are still very pastoral or bucolic or really beautiful. That is because they are cared for by our small farms who are growing a diversity of crops. They're grazing animals out there and they're taking care of that land.

They're doing this kind of on our behalf. Then they're also caring for the water. Of course, we have one of the best watersheds and great water in New York City. That's in part because of all of these stewards outside of the city who are caring for the land. Then when they can come in and sell directly to this huge metropolis and have direct access to customers, they make it over 90 cents to the dollar in their pocket.

They don't have to go through a middleman to sell their product. From the customer's perspective you're getting the freshest product, so you're getting the freshest fruits and vegetables, it tastes better, the quality is significantly higher, and it lasts longer at home or in your fridge. Those are all the reasons I have personally to shop at the market.

Alison Stewart: Liz, let's take some more calls. Let's talk to Maddie who's calling in from Brooklyn. Hi, Maddie. Thanks for calling All of It.

Maddie: Hi, how are you?

Alison Stewart: Doing great.

Maddie: I was calling in to talk about my favorite farmers market, which is the Cortelia Road Farmer's market in Ditmus Park, Brooklyn. I always get the fancy mushrooms. There's a stand with overpriced mushrooms that are delicious and the bread alone, bread stand, which I think is popular among some Brooklyn farmer's markets.

Alison Stewart: Maddie, thanks for the call. Let's talk to Pamela from Hoboken. Hi, Pamela.

Pamela: Hi, how are you? I love your show.

Alison Stewart: Oh, thank you.

Pamela: I'm calling to give a shout out for our little city across from your big city, Hoboken. We have fantastic farmer's markets.

Alison Stewart: Oh, so, tell us more.

Pamela: Two weeks ago, the Saturday farmer's market under the 14th Street viaduct opened up. I think they had about 18 or 19 vendors. Hoboken Farms has the most delicious olive roll for $1 each. Stony Hill Farms is all non-GMO, really fresh produce and fruit in season. There's French imported cheeses and there's a regenerative farmer who does grass fed steak if you eat meat, organic mushrooms, food from Mauritius, samosas. I could go on and on. It's incredible.

Alison Stewart: Pamela, thank you so much for calling. This text says, "My go-to market is Union Square on Saturday. While I especially love being able to get fresh lettuces, it's also great for people-watching." A real amalgamation of New Yorkers. This text says, "In a pandemic, the Greenmarket was and is a lifesaver. Quality produce you can shop for in person in an open-air environment." I did want to ask about the prices, Liz, by the way, because some people will assume that it costs more to buy your food at a farmer's market or a Greenmarket. We've been talking about egg prices. What do you say to people who are concerned about cost?

Liz: Egg prices were interesting because maybe they are a little more at the market but then once the prices went up at the store, we were selling out of eggs by 10:00 AM. The prices were comparable, and of course, the eggs at the market are bright orange and the yolk is bright orange. They're beautiful and tastier. I think we gained a lot of customers in the last few months because of the egg crisis, actually. In terms of affordability, like I mentioned before, these are smaller scale producers. Working on a small-scale production, they don't have the benefit of the bulk pricing, any subsidies.

There's a lot of labor and care that goes into their productions. They're not immune to inflation the same way everybody else is. Farmers are not immune to inflation either, so their costs have gone up. I will say about affordability at the market, generally, if you're buying your core items for your pantry, carrots, potatoes, onions, those prices are comparable. In the studies that we've done around grocery stores and in around markets, those prices are comparable.

Then when you're buying in season, so all the tomatoes come in at once, when everybody has tomatoes, those prices start to really level off. Strawberries, all the summer peak produce, then all the fall peak produce. Once everything is in abundance, those prices really level off and you can get really good deals. There's no middlemen, so the prices can remain competitive. The producers are selling directly and then like I mentioned before, just the value for your money, of course, it tastes so much better and you're less likely to have any waste because it's fresher and it lasts longer.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Rick who's calling from Princeton, New Jersey. Hi, Rick, you're on the air.

Rick: Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. I'd like to say that I'm a jazz musician, I'm a drummer, and we play at a lot of the Greenmarket events. It's twofold. Not only are you shopping for great food and with no bad ingredients in that food fresh, we love it, we perform a great service because of the Jazz Foundation of America that supplies it and pays us for it, but we also buy their products while we're there. I love it. It's just fresh and it's convenient and I love helping people because the supermarkets and the capitalistic system is really giving us a bad deal. I'm all in favor of it. We're going to continue to do it as long as the opportunity is there for us and it supplies work for the jazz musicians also.

Alison Stewart: Rick, thank you so much for calling us. GrowNYC takes volunteers. How can someone get involved, Liz?

Liz: Oh, thanks for asking, Alison. We have a incredible volunteer manager, Corey Wilkins, who organizes and hosts a monthly orientation for. For anyone interested, you have to be 18 or older to sign up to volunteer at a food access site, at a community garden. We operate an urban farm out on Governor's Island. We have volunteers go out there. Corey hosts the orientation each month.

That's the main requirement. It's one hour. It's on Zoom, so very accessible. Then as soon as you're done, you have access to our portal of opportunities, and you can get out there and volunteer. I'll make a extra plug. We're looking for volunteers right now for fliering at our seasonal opening sites and also spreading the word about our ongoing emergency fund campaign. We desperately need volunteers at all times and especially now.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Matt from Bergen County, New Jersey. Hi, Matt. Thanks for calling, All of It.

Matt: Hey, thank you for taking my call. I appreciate it up here in Ramsey, New Jersey. We have a beautiful farmer's market up here. I got to shout out to my friends at Doc Pickle that do all the farmer's markets here in Ramsey and throughout New Jersey, in Suffern, in Rockland County. I'm sure a lot of your listeners that frequent those farmer's markets know Doc Pickle. The line is huge, and I got to say, I've known those guys forever. Three generations of pickles pickled here up in Patterson. They've been doing it since the '60s or before. Really appreciate the farmer's markets. That was it. Just shouting out to my friends at Doc Pickle.

Alison Stewart: Like it, Matt. Thanks for calling in. Before we go, I wanted to ask you about any other initiatives that GrowNYC has going on right now.

Liz: Well, in case I didn't get a chance to miss it, I did want to shout out to my colleagues who run our Food Access Initiatives team. Of course, at every market we accept SNAP farmer's market nutrition program checks. Just last year alone we did $5.4 million in nutrition benefit sales across all of our programs, so very significant. That feeds into what's happening on the federal level. Nobody is going to be immune from it. Particularly nonprofit organizations seem to be particularly under attack.

We at GrowNYC have launched an emergency fund campaign and we are calling on New Yorkers to continue to support our work, become donors, whether it's a one-time donation or a monthly donation and continue to help us operate. We've been here 55 years. We plan to be here for 55 years more running markets and building and maintaining community gardens, but we need financial support from you all. Thanks for letting me shout that out. We're running our emergency fund campaign right now. If you go to grownyc.org, you'll find information for it on our front page.

Alison Stewart: We've been talking Greenmarkets with Liz Carollo, Assistant Director of Food Access and agriculture for GrowNYC. Thanks a lot, Liz.

Liz: Thanks, Alison.