Students Shop Local at Youth Farmers Market

This blog post describes a BIOAg-funded Youth Farmers Market designed to help elementary students build familiarity with local fruits and vegetables through hands-on shopping. The project involved 154 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students at a Title I elementary school serving many low-income families. Organizers transformed the school gym into an indoor market stocked with fresh, local, in-season produce sourced through the Southwest Washington Food Hub. Students shopped independently using $14 in tokens and received a tote bag and local honey. Agriculture students from The Evergreen State College volunteered to help run the market and hosted cooking demos with samples of delicata squash and kale Caesar salad. The post reports that 47% of students tried a new food during the event, and many took recipes and ingredients home. About a month later, 45 students attended the Olympia Farmers Market and used $15 in tokens to purchase produce, then returned to share what they chose. The authors say early results show increased interest in fresh, seasonal produce and a goal to expand the model to other Title I schools in washington state.