The Honors Program is scheduled to open its Farmer’s Market on Sept. 21.
Sophomore Kayla Harris, worked for a year to open something new and unordinary for A&T’s campus.
“A lot of people are not educated on what eating healthy is and having a healthy lifestyle, so why not bring people to show us and give us a hands-on opportunity,” said the biology and horticulture student.
A farmer’s market is a place where local farmers can display and sell freshly grown goods. For its grand opening on Saturday, Chipotle will donate food. In addition, student organizations will present dorm friendly recipes and provide free samples.
As of now, two farmers will be in attendance. There is a possibility that other vendors who sell their goods at the Farmer’s Market on Lindsay Street, located near War Memorial Stadium, will be in attendance as well. The vendors’ prices will range from $2-$15. Only cash will be accepted.
The Farmer’s Market goes hand-in-hand with the text in community book this year, “Salt Sugar Fat” by Michael Moss. Throughout Moss’ book, he covers dangers that are in convenient and processed foods. The book, as well as the market, is meant to encourage students to educate them on exactly what they are eating.
Some students have already been to a farmer’s market and are excited about Saturday.
“I think it (the farmer’s market) will benefit me because I won’t have to go off campus for my food,” said Lia Sumner, a sophomore nursing major. “It’s convenient that it will be on campus and is ultimately fresh and not processed food like the market or Wal-Mart will sell.”
Harris was inspired to do the farmer’s market by a professor who encouraged her class to make a difference. “She was the engine for it, even when I was telling her I wasn’t getting emails back or people weren’t responding to me,” said Harris referring to a former professor. It started as an idea and was approved by the university in Dec. 2012. After the announcement, Harris was able to gain the approval of the student body as well as different services. She also had to check with Sodexo and the Lindsay Street farmer’s market, which both serve fresh and local food.
With more push, Harris pressed on by setting dates at the beginning of this academic school year. Harris could not have done this on her own, as she depended on several members of faculty for help.
“Dr. O’Sullivan, with North Carolina Cooperative Extension, he was a really good mentor,” Harris said.
“They gave us so much documentation on how
to get it [farmer’s market] started.”
The North Carolina Cooperative Extension is an outreach program based at N.C. State University in partnership with A&T and the U.S. Department of Agriculture reaches North Carolina citizens through local centers and educational programming.
Harris used the guidelines from N.C. State’s farmer’s market as a model and leaned on the Lindsay Street farmer’s market to help develop her own.
Michael Cundall, director of the Honors Program, has also been in full support in helping Harris by hosting programs and organizing the event. Cundall also helped provide one of the first vendors that agreed to come for the grand opening.
“My prediction is that it [the farmer’s market] will not have that impact right away,” Cundall said.
“It needs time to grow and develop and become established because it is not something you would typically think about when you think about the college experience. It’s just different.”
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- Taylor Young, Contributor