2009 Hepburn Internship2009 Hepburn Internship

Fair FoodFair Food

About Fair Food

• “Fair Food is dedicated to bringing locally grown food into the Philadelphia marketplace and promoting a humane, sustainable agriculture for the Greater Philadelphia region.”

Fair Food Programs Include…

• Farmer and Buyer Consulting: Helps to create and nurture relationships between farmers and wholesale buyers

• Farmer Outreach: Works to prepare farmers to be better able to work within the wholesale marketplace

• Farm to Institution: Provides information and assistance to institutions who wish to begin buying local food produced in a sustainable manner.

• Buy Fresh Buy Local Campaign: Local leader of the national consumer education and marketing campaign which promotes the benefits of buying local food

• Fair Food Farmstand: Located in the Reading Terminal Market, sells food produced within 150 miles of Philadelphia by approximately 90 different small, sustainable producers; the Farmstand is run largely by volunteer labor, and is open 6 days a week.

Duties As an Intern

• Farm Tour Coordinator: Set up Farm Tours; communicate with farmers; publicize tours; coordinate logistics of tours, including food and transportation

• Volunteer News Liaison: Wrote weekly email newsletter to Fair Food Farmstand staff and volunteers; update staff and volunteers on other breaking Farmstand-related news

• Farmstand Worker: Worked weekly shifts at the Fair Food Farmstand

Farm Tours

• Buyer Farm Tour: Tour for institutions and restaurants who buy local, or are interested in buying local. Tour stops included Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op warehouse (farmer-owned cooperative that sells food to a number of locations in Lancaster County and the Philadelphia area), Springwater Farm (dairy farm), and Cedar Meadow Farm (produce farm that uses innovative soil conservation techniques).

Cedar Meadow Farm

LFF Warehouse Dutch Belted Cows, Springwater Farm

Tour members and Fair Food staff enjoy a potluck lunch at Springwater

Steve Groff, farmer, Cedar Meadow Farm, with fresh corn

Farm Tours

• Hendricks Farms and Dairy: Producer of raw milk,

cheese, and cured meats

Guinea hen

Curing meatsDairy cows cooling off

More dairy cows

Farm Tours

• Overbrook Herb Farm and Pennypack Farm: Overbrook is a small-scale, chemical-free herb farm; Pennypack is a community farm and education center.

Tour members at Overbrook Herb Farm

Challenges and Learning Experiences

• Weavers’ Orchard• Growing pains/issues of working

within a small organization with a limited budget

• Organization/publicity• The importance of Fair Food’s

mission

Questions?Questions?