What can you Find "Beyond the Market"?
In October, 2021, PCFMA embarked on an ambitious new project to tell the story of our farmers and the products they grow through a series of online videos. The goal of the project was two-fold; First, to help farmers market customers get to know the people behind the products that they enjoyed, and second, to inspire customers by demonstrating interesting and enticing ways to cook with the fresh products they can find at their farmers market. As the PCFMA team launched into this work they soon identified a name that perfectly captured their efforts: Beyond the Market.
Beyond the Market is not just the title of PCFMA’s YouTube channel or a social media tagline. It is also an encapsulation of what the videos capture. PCFMA’s farmers markets are well-known, attracting over 1.7 million customer visits last year. But while those customers are familiar with the hustle and bustle of their local farmers market during the four to five hours per week that the market is open, they don’t see the hours, days, and weeks of work that are required to make those markets possible. Similarly, PCFMA’s farmers know their farmers market customers through conversations in those windows of time when the market is in operation, but they don’t see what becomes of the products that they worked so hard to produce once the customer gets those products home. Beyond the Market provides a glimpse into both worlds.
Beyond the Market’s recipes feature fresh, seasonal ingredients from California farms that have been sourced directly from a PCFMA farmers market. The recipes range from the simple – Microgreens Coleslaw – to the more complex – like Homemade Sriracha. Each is demonstrated by PCFMA Market Manager Andrew Croft and filmed in PCFMA’s homemade production studio in Concord. With apologies to Andrew who is an incredible host and cook, those who watch the recipe demonstrations quickly see that the ingredients are the stars of the show. These videos celebrate the diversity of fresh products at farmers markets that makes those markets dream locations for both chefs and home cooks to find inspiration for delicious meals.
Tracing those ingredients back to their origins takes PCFMA to farms throughout California. There, we get to know the people who dedicate themselves to coaxing food from the soil and whose labor brings those products to market. While each of these videos involves a trip to a California farm – and often includes stunning views of the farm from a “drone’s eye view” – it is the passion of the people on camera that makes these videos special. From Steve Fernandes describing raising his daughter on a multi-generational flower farm to Angelica Medina’s infectious smile as she rides an ATV through strawberry fields while wearing a leopard print jacket, the people behind the products make an impression. Knowing that your farmers market purchase helps to support cool, fun, hardworking people is another reason to feel good about your farmers market purchases.
The distance that fruits and vegetables travel from the farm to the farmers market is short, but the journey the farmer takes to grow the produce can last a lifetime. By telling the stories of California farmers, we hope to give farmers market customers a peek into the lives of the wonderful people that have devoted their lives to producing incredible food to feed Bay Area communities.
Given the demanding work of farming, not all farmers can devote the time to host PCFMA’s team for a day of filming and interviews so some of the videos feature farms that may not be in your local PCFMA farmers market. But the products, hard work, and dedication are common traits among all farmers in farmers' markets throughout the Bay Area and beyond. And, even if Stepladder Creamery doesn't attend your market, you can still enjoy the video of their baby goats dancing around the green pastures on their Central Coast farm.
The Beyond the Market video series is made possible through a USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant (21FMPPCA1034-00). The project continues work that was begun the previous year with the support of a CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grant (18-0001-043-SC). PCFMA is grateful to both USDA and CDFA for their support of this work and our efforts to help tell the stories of California’s farmers and their products. Special thanks go out to each of the farmers who have taken time out their schedules to welcome the PCFMA team to their farms and who have been such fun to work with throughout this process.
More videos are on the way to subscribe to Beyond the Market on YouTube, follow your local PCFMA farmers market on Facebook, or check the PCFMA website regularly for new video releases.
Allen Moy
Executive Director
