Houston Farmers Market Weekly News

by Glen Boudreaux, Jolie Vue Farms

Willie Nelson, the great Texas poet, crooner, and country philosopher, is and always has been a prominent supporter of the family farm. Willie comes from the Nelson family farm, a smallholding in Hill County. He understands better than most the struggles and hardships of the small farmer. But he also knows the balance that farming provides - the wonder of working daily with nature, the satisfaction of growing good food for our citizens, the immersion of oneself in the soil of your own little piece of the planet. Good farmers are one with nature, and that is a spiritual and soul-satisfying experience.

So I'm going to rely on Willie to speak for me today, for there is no better spokesman for what the truly dedicated farmer and rancher hopes to accomplish.

"While it may seem obvious to many, good food comes from farms with healthy soils and clean water."

"Excessive chemicals, soil erosion, runoff from hog factories laced with hormones and antibiotics [I'll add chicken houses and cattle feedlots] and the growing threats of widespread genetic contamination from genetically engineered crops threaten our capacity to grow the food we need to feed our country."

"The rising epidemics of childhood obesity and diabetes are clearly linked to the highly processed food peddled to kids and served in our school cafeterias."

"...on average, each food item travels 1500 miles before arriving to our tables...by strengthening local food production, the Good Food movement is reducing the distance food travels and the ecological footprint of American agriculture."

"If you enjoy good food and care about the issues behind this movement, I invite you to take action today...the most direct and regular action you can take is to search out and buy as much of your food directly from farm families in your area... think of one food item you can buy from local farmers and commit to buying it. These small and simple actions are building the Good Food movement and changing American agriculture for the better."

That says it all, Willie. We thank you.

Joan sends this correction to her comments quoted in last week's news about pricing:

"It was not a 100% mark up on ad ["loss leader"] items. The grocery stores will sell an Ad item at cost or below to get the consumer into their store. Also please note not all items are marked up 500% [...] SOME items may be marked up as much as 500%. This is an exception to the rule.  But the farmer truly does not hardly ever get a fair shake as far as costs are concerned."