Professors claim farmers’ markets cultivate racism

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: SlapMonkey


I just got back from the Racist Market. Picked up some great local sausage and making some bad ass cassoulet tonight while serving it with a side of white guilt.

Cassoulet, you say????

The proper stuff, with confit duck and toulouse sausage and beans?

You need locking up and banning, that aint food, its pornography

originally posted by: SprocketUK
Cassoulet, you say????

The proper stuff, with confit duck and toulouse sausage and beans?

You need locking up and banning, that aint food, its pornography

That would be the one. Plenty of homemade confit, fresh sausage and great northern beans.

And some nice Alsacian wine.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: SprocketUK
Cassoulet, you say????

The proper stuff, with confit duck and toulouse sausage and beans?

You need locking up and banning, that aint food, its pornography

That would be the one. Plenty of homemade confit, fresh sausage and great northern beans.

And some nice Alsacian wine.

You are going to hell you are

Odd article, I see how they think they might be onto something.

I live in a city where there are farmers markets in all our neighborhoods, not just the gentrified ones. But yeah the nicer neighborhoods have swanky farmers markets with mostly white hipsters and lots of specialized product. The poorer the neighborhood the more the market feels real and prices are better, and the crowd is less white.

originally posted by: SlapMonkey

originally posted by: rickymouse

This rumor must be funded by commercial producers and some in the agriculture and USDA agencies who are tied to the commercial markets somehow.

Now you make me want to see if this was funded by Monsanto

Monsanto would gain by the article being accepted by the public. I see no GMO products at the farmers markets here, other than some potatoes which have been modified for many decades. But even then, most of the potatoes at the market are actually real potatoes, they are all small, the genetic modification to make big potatoes is not active anymore.

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
There are few things that bother me more (but there are some) than the inappropriate use of the race card, or calling something racist/racism when it's not even close.

Well, here we are with an article fully titled Professors claim farmers’ markets cultivate racism: ‘Habits of white people are normalized’ and written by two professors at San Diego State University.

The title of the story pretty much sums it up, but let's get to the meat of things:

Two professors from San Diego State University claim in a new book that farmers’ markets in urban areas are weed-like “white spaces” responsible for oppression.

Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and Fernando J Bosco are part of an anthology released this month titled “Just Green Enough.” The work, published by Routledge, claims there is a correlation between the “whiteness of farmers’ markets” and gentrification.

Yes, ladies and gents, farmers markets are a piece of the gentrification pie, according to these authors. Keep in mind, if you will, that these authors are geology professors, so who better to discuss the whiteness of farmers markets and how it applies to gentrification, correct?

But let's just see what they have to say, because I'm sure that they're onto something, here (now quoted from the CampusReform article:

... farmers’ markets are “exclusionary” since locals may not be able to “afford the food and/or feel excluded from these new spaces.”

This social exclusion is reinforced by the “whiteness of farmers’ markets” and the “white habitus” that they can reinforce, the professors elaborate, describing farmers’ markets as “white spaces where the food consumption habits of white people are normalized.”

Check the White Habitus at the door, please.

... 44 percent of the city’s farmers’ markets are located in census tracts with a high rate of gentrification, leading them to conclude that farmers’ markets “attract households from higher socio-economic backgrounds, raising property values and displacing low-income residents and people of color.”

Yes, not even a majority of San Diego's farmer's markets are located in areas "with a high rate of gentrification," yet they still find it sane to conclude that these markets are a catalyst of gentrification.

In my experience, the existence of farmers markets tends to lag behind the development of communities, not precede them in order to increase the area's value and "whiteness" (and I've moved, along with my family and wife, who is big on seeking out farmers markets, no less than eight times since 2002). We talk to farmers and organizers of farmers markets and we have a decent understanding of the "why" behind the location, success, and failure of farmers markets, none of which are purposefully tied to the demographics or even the income level of an area.

But, regardless as to whether or not my conclusions align with theirs, I'm sure that since they've cited this "white habitus" as being both a problem for lower-income and minority communities and a contributor to gentrification, they must have some great ideas to deal with this "problem" that they've addressed:

The professors stop short of offering specific remedies, but do conclude that “curbing gentrification is a vexing task” that requires the involvement of both community members and local governments.

“Strong community involvement,” they say, is necessary in order to ensure that “the needs of the poorest...residents are prioritized,” while local governments can enact “equitable zoning policies, rent-control laws, and property tax reforms in favor of long-time homeowners” to combat the trend toward gentrification.

Oh, I see, they have no clue as to how this issue should be addressed--but, hey, they spell out a lovely example of socialist governance, so there's that gem! We all know how, over time, socialism always affects the poorest people in the best of ways.

Well, anyhoo, feel free to discuss the asininity of the cultivation of racism by the existence of farmers markets. This ought to be fun.

I hate the political mud pit, but dammit, I couldn't find a better spot for it.

Here is a link to Just Green Enough, if you're interested in purchasing a book that describes itself this way:

While global urban development increasingly takes on the mantle of sustainability and "green urbanism," both the ecological and equity impacts of these developments are often overlooked. One result is what has been called environmental gentrification, a process in which environmental improvements lead to increased property values and the displacement of long-term residents. The specter of environmental gentrification is now at the forefront of urban debates about how to accomplish environmental improvements without massive displacement.

"Correlation does not imply causation" - A essential freshman statisitcs axiom that is apparently lost by the dear professors.

In their defense... we are talking about basic economics. There are farmers markets all over the place... AND in urban areas too. Most of the good urban markets feature a high percentage of "Organic" produce... and farm fresh organic produce isn't subsidized by the Dept of Agriculture like commercial farm outputs are... so they cost more.

It's just a fact, that an urban organic farmers market is going to try and locate itself where there's a market. And this is a surprise to the dear professors?

Many academics STAY in academia because they couldn't cut it in the real world. I suspect these guys are poster boys for academics with zero real world experience.

originally posted by: Theprodicalson
Everything is racist.


Racism is a industry now.

The Racism Industrial Complex.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

My farmers market has mostly Hispanic vendors selling vegetables. I guess someone should tell them they are complicit in white oppression. My god, I am buying vegetables from them! What does that make me?

Sad thing,we are paying their salary's through taxes,hardly a place of higher learning,do you have to lack in common sense to get a degree,why is it that reality has been left out of the equation,with things like"core math' where can it ever be used except in a liberals handbook,just what are they educated with? escape from reality

originally posted by: SprocketUK
You are going to hell you are

For cassoulet? Not the baby eating?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

You didn't say what was in the sausage ... you only said it was local.

a reply to: ketsuko


Not what, who.

I see no GMO products at the farmers markets here

I go to plenty of farmers markets, but I don't know how you can assume the above. I sometimes see some stalls that actually promote non-GMO / organic crops. Most do not - you just assume they are non-GMO due to the size of the veggies? Vegetables can be bred for size - I wouldn't count on their size to determine if they are GMO or not. At least in the store you get the 9xxxx stickers (if accurately applied). No such thing at the farmers market.

originally posted by: fleabit

I see no GMO products at the farmers markets here

I go to plenty of farmers markets, but I don't know how you can assume the above. I sometimes see some stalls that actually promote non-GMO / organic crops. Most do not - you just assume they are non-GMO due to the size of the veggies? Vegetables can be bred for size - I wouldn't count on their size to determine if they are GMO or not. At least in the store you get the 9xxxx stickers (if accurately applied). No such thing at the farmers market.

There is also the issue of merchants buying produce from wherever at the food terminal in the city, and selling it at stalls in the farmer's markets. That's becoming contentious in these parts!

a reply to: Djarums

Yes that sums up exactly what went through my mind when i saw the title of this thread.Strange times these.

Are the Mexican fruit stands racist. How about selling oranges by the freeway.

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Ha...this is true, they are geography professors, not geology, so I suppose it makes it valid for them to be studying this.

It does not, however, make their conclusion any more valid, and the fact that you chose to focus on the one mistake is disappointing. Where there is correlation with 44% of farmers markets, these guys are seeing causation without presenting any facts that back it up, just speculation.

Do tell, though--what are you calling "manufactured white outrage?"

(sorry for the late response)

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: SlapMonkey


I just got back from the Racist Market. Picked up some great local sausage and making some bad ass cassoulet tonight while serving it with a side of white guilt.

You did that wrong...White Guilt is a delicacy in some circles and should be the main course.

And probably desert.

Washed down with some liquid Schwartz.

"May the Schwartz be with youuuuuuu..." -- Just Plain Yogurt

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Ha...this is true, they are geography professors, not geology, so I suppose it makes it valid for them to be studying this.

It does not, however, make their conclusion any more valid, and the fact that you chose to focus on the one mistake is disappointing. Where there is correlation with 44% of farmers markets, these guys are seeing causation without presenting any facts that back it up, just speculation.

Do tell, though--what are you calling "manufactured white outrage?"

(sorry for the late response)

Manufactured white outrage? It refers to the industry that gleans the internet in search of wee things for Conservatives to get upset about.

I explained my focus on the error, and repeat that any newspaper that is going to try to present a well-reasoned societal commentary will do a little fact-check on the inconsistencies. Like I did.

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

I'll rephrase my question: Are you calling the conclusion of the professors "manufactured white outrage," or the opinion of most of us that their conclusion is full of crap?

Because I'll tell ya, I'm not a conservative, nor are many who have called out the stupidity of this "study" in this thread.