Market Update: Sunday, May 13th

Do you know where your food comes from?

The Cedar Park and Round Rock Farmers’ Markets know where ours comes from and we know the people who grow it. One of the goals of our market association is to provide information to our customers and help strengthen the bonds between the farmer and the consumer and to make transparent the route from the farm to your table. In order to this, we visit all the farms and ranches selling at our markets, to understand their food production processes and to feel certain that the food is grown or prepared with agricultural, nutritional and environmental integrity. (Note that “local” varies depending on the product. Most of our foods come from a 150 mile radius, but our seafood and some citrus come from greater distances. This is because they are not able to be grown nearby, but are produced in Texas.)

 

At Cedar Park and Round Rock Farmers’ Markets, we strive to:

• Keep local family farms productive and profitable: by providing venues for farmers and ranchers to sell what they grow or produce. Making a profit can be the difference between keeping the land and selling it off for residential homes and/or commercial developments.
• Give the public convenient access to healthy, locally grown, fresh food: Produce, meats, dairy and herbs come from Central Texas farms except in the case when it is not available (Texas Gulf seafood and some citrus only grown outside our 150 mile limit). Much of grocery store produce has traveled an average of 1,500 miles before it gets on the store shelves. It’s common for it to be harvested before it ripens on the vine in order to keep it from bruising and rotting on its cross country trip. By the time it’s been picked, packed and warehoused then trucked in to a grocery.  The problems: it’s less than fresh, the nutritional value has decreased and chance for contamination is greater. Local, fresh food means more vitamins and minerals for you and your family and food from local farms is just about as fresh as you can get.
• Education: We share information about the positive impact that farming has on the local economy, health and the aesthetic values of communities and the environment.

The Cedar Park and Round Rock Farmers’ Markets work to establish a connection between the farmer and the public and create a partnership that ensures a more sustainable future for everyone.

Real Farmers. Real Food. Real Good.