Supporting Mobile Markets & 2012 Farm Bill

On Friday Ag Secretary Vilsack announced the USDA support for mobile retail markets of fresh, affordable fruits and vegetables in the Pacific Northwest. The Gorge Grown Food Network, which provides healthy food access in the rural Columbia River Gorge areas of Oregon and Washington, is being supported in part by USDA funding as it expands to serve additional communities with its Veggie Express truck. Todd Dierker, with the Gorge Grown Food Network, shares reasons why the GGFN mobile market was developed.

DIERKER: One was to expand the market for some of the local growers, the second was to expand the platform for Gorge Grown Food Network to reach into some communities in more rural areas and outlying regions and explain to them about the regional food system we’re trying to develop. And then the most obvious is just to jumpstart new farmer’s markets.

The USDA will also be supporting a research project to assess the impact of mobile markets as a strategy to increase healthy food access in rural and urban communities.

The Ag Committee’s proposal to do away with several programs and streamline the disaster payment process passed with a procedural vote of 90-8 last Thursday, clearing the path for the Senate to discuss the 2012 Farm Bill. The vote is seen as an indicator of strong bipartisan support for the measure, although the floor action is expected to take weeks.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.