FORSYTH FARMERS MARKET INC
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Mission Statement
The mission of the Forsyth Farmers' Market is to promote understanding and participation in a local food system that supports sustainable production and increases access to local products. FFM continuously works towards the founding vision of a local food system that is good for the health of all citizens and the environment, with particular emphasis on historically under-served populations of our community. Forsyth Farmers’ Market supports local food producers and improves local food access for all residents and visitors of Savannah while providing food education through welcoming, respectful, and collaborative projects.
About This Cause
Forsyth Farmers’ Market, Inc. (FFM) manages Forsyth Park’s Saturday farmers’ market, operates the Farm Truck 912 (FT912) mobile market, and facilitates complementary nutrition education programming. The first Saturday market was launched in May 2009 as a weekly food-only/producer-only market and has continued in this way, virtually year- round, for over a decade. It is supported by over 1,000 volunteer hours every year, serves an average of 2,000-4,000 people each week and supports more than 65 local farms and businesses. FFM opened with the capability to accept and double SNAP/EBT benefits and has grown that program significantly each year. FFM maintains the highest redemption rates for SNAP/EBT at a single farmers’ market each year in Georgia. FFM has received multiple grants and accolades over the years and participated in numerous speaking engagements regionally and nationally about our work. Forsyth Farmers’ Market has been voted best farmers’ market in Savannah by Connect Savannah and Savannah Magazine readers for multiple years in a row. FFM was awarded the Healthy Savannah 2015 Health Innovation Award, and the 2016 Urban Planning Award for Collaboration by Savannah State University’s Urban Planning Conference. Despite the success of the farmers’ market, a 4-hour market held only on Saturday mornings in a location with little public transportation access is not convenient for all residents, especially those struggling with food access and mobility issues. In 2013, FFM received a grant from Gulfstream to launch the Farm Truck 912 program – a mobile market to increase food access in Savannah’s neighborhoods. The grant was awarded to retrofit a truck, develop the program, and initiate 3 stops. In 2015, FFM received funding from the USDA to add additional stops and cover incentives for the SNAP/EBT program. At the end of 2018, we received notice that the CDC REACH grant, which was awarded to the YMCA of Coastal Georgia and Healthy Savannah, would offer funds to do another expansion bringing Farm Truck 912 to 12 stops per week. We continue to accept SNAP/EBT and double the dollars of those receiving benefits through a partnership with Wholesome Wave Georgia. In 2018, we doubled the number of SNAP dollars spent and matched on Farm Truck 912 from 2017. In 2019, we saw another 75% increase. In 2020, we saw another doubling of SNAP sales and another increase in 2021. In combination with the truck, nutrition programming is offered by nutrition educators who teach cooking classes, prepare food samples, conduct cooking demonstrations, create recipe cards, and further engage the community with nutrition education. Currently, the Forsyth Farmers’ Market partners with the non-profit organization Oldways to bring the community-oriented six-week “A Taste of African Heritage” interactive cooking classes to Savannah. In 2019, we hosted 5 rounds of these six-week courses. We had begun our first of seven rounds of this program in 2020 before Covid hit. Attempts to start back in 2021 were met with surges of the virus and they kept getting canceled. We started offering online classes as well as “mini” classes beside the truck. In 2019, we were one of only eight recipients to receive GusNIP (Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program) funding from the USDA to implement a ‘produce prescription program’ in early 2020. The $455,000 grant allows us to partner with Memorial Health Children’s Hospital, Chatham County Health Department, St. Joseph’s/Candler’s St. Mary’s Health Center, and African American Health Information and Resource Center. This program, 912 Food Farmacy, serves low-income individuals who have, or are at risk for, diet-related chronic diseases and provide them with nutrition education, increased access to fresh and local foods, and provide financial incentives for purchasing healthy food items. Forsyth Farmers’ Market generates positive, tangible impact in Chatham County and continues to increase outreach and address community needs. In 2021, we provided retail space for 62 small businesses, 35 of which are farms,, doubled over $37,500 in SNAP benefits at the Saturday market so that more than 500 low-income families went home with more than $75,000 in fresh, local food, purchased more than $43,000 in produce from local farmers to take into community via Farm Truck 912, our mobile farmers’ market which primarily serves low-income, low-food access neighborhoods, sold $9,000 of fresh produce at half off to SNAP customers on Farm Truck 912.