Established in 2014, the South Bronx Farmers Market aims to address public health crises in undernourishment, malnourishment, diabetes, and obesity by promoting access to locally grown, affordable, nutritious produce and healthy agricultural products for the under-served South Bronx’s residents. It facilitates crucial food subsidy programs such as the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program and Farmers Market Nutrition Program checks as well as Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Electronic Benefits (SNAP/EBT). The South Bronx Farmers Market allocates approximately 40 percent of its fund to subsidy programs to help the community get more affordable and fresh products into their homes.

The South Bronx Farmers Market is situated in one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States, where close to half of the children live below poverty levels. Local and fresh food options in the neighborhood are scarce compared to the surrounding areas. The South Bronx Farmers Market wants to ensure that local and fresh food grown by regional and urban farmers is accessible to residents of the South Bronx neighborhood.

It was started by volunteers and community members who created a survey to assess the market needs, the best products for the market, as well as the ideal times and dates. Five women from the South Bronx community took up a course on how to start a farmers’ market that tackled various topics such as food subsidy and programs, permitting, requirements, and policies.

The market not only brings more healthy agricultural products to the neighborhood but also offers additional programming such as nutrition and cooking educational programs, as well as free tours during the week to any school, organization, or community group. In partnership with Just Food and The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, The South Bronx Farmers Market provides free bilingual on-site nutrition and cooking demonstrations every market day to support the farmers and promote healthier eating and cooking.

These workshops attract more than 1000 participants each season and teach residents how to make more healthy eating choices and create affordable, simple, and healthy meals. They also provide samples to taste, recipes, and Health Bucks you can spend in the market.

Farmers at the market minimize waste by giving all the cooking demonstration foods waste, vegetable stems, and unused produce parts to the dairy and meat farmer for his pastured pigs. The market uses reusable boxes and crates and provides promotional programs to give out reusable totes to reduce waste and prevent waste transfer.