Local Roots

A very nice Washington Post write-up on the great Local Roots, the farmers’ co-op in Wooster, Ohio. I taught at the College of Wooster last year and so spent a good bit of money at this place. It is truly an ideal farmers’ market. The story gets into how it works with local farmers to ensure them a decent profit. This I knew, but not the details. Northeastern Ohio is ideally placed for a small farmers’ market that also serves as a center of the coommunity. First, it is in the middle of farm country. Amish and otherwise, there are thousands of farmers out there. Second, there is nothing else to do in the town. While the college makes a big difference in town life, allowing for a nice wine bar and an acceptable if overpriced steakhouse and regular bar, overall Wooster is a deindustrialized and depressed city. The former home of Rubbermaid (even though the company moved out there is still ad 3 story Rubbermaid store on the downtown square), there is a lot of poverty and the overall air of depression that creates. But this also means that rents are cheap and Local Roots could get a location downtown at what I assume is a very reasonable price.

I remember two things about Local Roots: the apples and the bread. I don’t know how people eat regular apples. Tasteless, covered with wax, totally gross. But even where apples are grown, local apples can be hard to find. Rhode Island for instance has a lot of apple orchards. Go to Whole Foods in Providence though and you have a few pretty good varieties of apples, but all from different parts of country. Nothing from Rhode Island. After the farmers markets close and the apple picking season ends, evidently local apples are impossible to get. Local Roots though had between 5 and 10 different varieties of locally grown apples sold every week, many of which were totally delicious. I actively disliked apples for a long time because it had been so long since I had a really great one. Local Roots totally changed my mind. I have less to say about the bread except that it was really good and not outrageously priced. I didn’t have the money to buy a lot of the cheese and I don’t cook meat, but I understand those were also excellent products. The multicolored popcorn still pops white unfortunately but it was nice to have something other than corn kernels bred to an absurd size.

There’s no good reason why the Local Roots model can’t work around the country. You need a space and connections with local farmers. New York might be hard, but Providence would not be, nor would many major cities. Moreover, in smaller towns, where you really need that local market to serve as an anchor for a community and for downtown retail, it’s a brilliant idea.

Very cool story.