Can urban farms become sustainable businesses Chicagoans can depend on?
By opting to become a for-profit business and trying out creative ways to become self-sustaining, Herban Produce took a big step — and a risky one.
By CST Editorial Board
Chicago Sun Times
Sept 1, 2022
Excerpt:
In July, Sun-Times reporter Mariah Rush wrote about Urban Growers Collective’s Fresh Moves — an affordable market-on-wheels that runs five days a week and makes several stops at locations throughout the South and West sides. The mobile farmer’s market gets fresh produce from eight local urban farms, and sells food at an affordable price that attracts people struggling to make ends meet. An avocado, for example, costs 50 cents, compared to $3 in some stores.
Timuel Jones-Bey said the rise in grocery prices and the lack of access to affordable food has sent demand soaring to about 3,000 customers a week.
“This summer is different,” Jones-Bey said. “We’ve seen such a response because the price of food is so high. Also, our fears of food security are actually becoming a reality.”
In this year alone, three major grocers have closed in South and West side neighborhoods: two Aldi’s in Gresham and a Whole Foods in Englewood — where, not surprisingly, demand for Fresh Moves is high.
Thousands of Chicagoans live in food deserts, or, nearly as bad, have access to fast-food restaurants but no grocery stores with nutritious options.
