Atlas Farm expanding Mobile Market stops to combat food insecurity

By JULIAN MENDOZA

Staff Writer

Published: 06-08-2023 5:11 PM

SOUTH DEERFIELD — In an effort to combat food insecurity throughout the Pioneer Valley, Atlas Farm has more than doubled the number of stops its traveling produce shop will make in Franklin County this season.

Atlas Farm’s Mobile Market, housed inside a small bus, aims to bring fresh, affordable produce to communities that might not otherwise have access to it. Last year’s inaugural season featured stops at Oak Courts and Elm Terrace in Greenfield, as well as a handful of Holyoke locations. By expanding to include stops at Greenfield’s Leyden Woods Apartments, as well as Montague’s Peskeomskut Park and Millers Falls Library, Atlas Farm hopes to make a difference for the more than 8% of the region’s population that faces food insecurity, per data from nonprofit food bank network Feeding America.

“When you bring the market closer … it makes it easier and more appealing when you choose to buy the carrots or the apples than it is when you have to go to an extra place or make an extra trip,” Jen Audley, project coordinator for the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) Network for Franklin County and the North Quabbin, said at a meeting where the Mobile Market’s expansion was announced.

“Everyone who lives here should benefit from the agricultural abundance of this area,” Rosemary Bateman, Atlas Farm’s retail produce manager, said in a statement.

The Mobile Market made its 2023 debut on Tuesday, serving Holyoke in the morning before heading north and parking at Leyden Woods from 1 to 3 p.m. Carrying more than a dozen varieties of fruits and greens from Atlas Farm, Sunderland’s Riverland Farm and Hadley’s Next Barn Over Farm, the bus served 10 people at Leyden Woods, a turnout that encouraged Food Access Coordinator Meghan Williams and Mobile Market Assistant Rachel Labrie.

As the season goes on, farm staff expect to grow the market further. This includes plans to source produce from more area farms, diversify which specific produce they offer from week to week, provide “more culturally relevant foods to different populations” and potentially add a stop at Greenfield High School in partnership with the Summer Eats Program, Williams said.

Additionally, the program looks to “build on the momentum of the Massachusetts Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), which provides additional food assistance to individuals and families who receive [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits, as described on the farm’s website. These benefits can be used to buy fresh produce from farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets and community supported agriculture (CSA) programs. According to Williams and Labrie, all but one of Tuesday’s customers at Leyden Woods paid using SNAP benefits.

“Despite its ‘win-win’ success, the Healthy Incentives Program faces ongoing challenges such as the need for increased community outreach and education, as well as limited customer access to participating HIP vendors,” Atlas Farm’s website reads, citing the state’s HIP fact sheet. “Only about 7% of HIP recipients now use the benefits available to them. The Mobile Market route will target food deserts in general and ‘HIP deserts’ in particular.”

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The Mobile Market will make stops in Franklin County on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the summer. It will be at Leyden Woods in Greenfield from 1 to 3 p.m. and at Oak Courts in Greenfield from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. On Thursdays, it will be at Elm Terrace Apartments in Greenfield from 10 to 11:30 a.m., at the Millers Falls Library in Millers Falls from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and at Peskeomskut Park in Turners Falls from 4 to 5:30 p.m. More details and a full schedule can be found on the market’s Instagram page at @atlasfarm_mobilemkt and at atlasfarm.com/market.

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.

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