Above: Jerry Baird on his farm in Grainger County. Photos by Mark Alewine / Knoxville Voice.

In the last few years, America has experienced a change in paradigm when it comes to the food it consumes: People are beginning to ask themselves, where does it come from, what’s in it and who’s to profit. The trend is apparent in everyday shopping baskets, filled with foods that now come with labels proclaiming them “100 percent organic” and “locally grown.”

These choices have the potential to revolutionize the current state of agriculture in our country as evidenced by farmers in the very heartland of East Tennessee, many of whom have known the value of the services they provide to the community for years.

One of the greatest examples of this is the Market Square Farmers Market. The market consists of several local farmers selling a wide variety of produce, such as berries, vegetables, flowers and honey. Local crafts are available as well. Despite the fact they are all working as independent vendors, the common thread throughout the market is their passion to provide the general public with the freshest, highest quality food possible. Farmers market director Charlotte Tolley says this has been their goal since the beginning. 
 
“Our food system (nationally) is very susceptible to failure,” Tolley says. “Having local food makes you more self sufficient.”

She is not alone in this belief. Public interest in local farming and its benefits is growing through the work done at the farmers market.

“People are becoming more aware,” she says.

That statement is true, not only here in East Tennessee but across the country, but is this public conscience widespread enough to make a change? The farm bill, a national piece of legislation that makes the rounds about once every five years and is about to once again, determines whether a crop will be subsidized. Among the current list of subsidized crops are soybeans, wheat and corn – the stuff from which carb-heavy foods are made. Left out of that picture are the farmers who grow many fruits and vegetables. According to a recent New York Times article, the price of fruits and vegetables raised 40 percent between 1985 and 2000, while soft drinks – a product mostly made of corn syrup – dropped by 23 percent.

But American consumers have already made strides to show they have an interest in changing the current domestic food supply infrastructure. Today, organic foods is a $15 billion industry, and farmers markets have more than doubled in the last few years. Market Square Farmers Market is flourishing in no small part to this grassroots movement.

In its fourth year of operation, the market will begin May 12 and run through Nov. 17. It will be held twice weekly, Wednesdays 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
 
Businesses such as the Three Rivers Market are also providing locally grown produce to the Knoxville area. Located at 937 N. Broadway, Three Rivers is a community owned grocery store with the goal of providing natural foods. The public interest has been seen there as well.

“I’ve been here five years, and I’ve seen it change,” says Three Rivers produce manager John Bohmenstiel, who has also observed that sales have been steadily increasing. “A lot of people want to be able to know the farmer they are buying from. We want to be here to serve Knoxville and to provide them with healthy food.”

The benefits of local farming verses the drawbacks of produce that travels great distances is beyond comparison, claims Grainger County farmer and market square vendor Jerry Baird. “Let your taste buds be the judge,” he says.
      
Since he began, Baird has grown his crops entirely organic, using knowledge he learned from his family and other locals who have always grown without the use of chemicals. After watching the herbicides used by other farmers, he had his mind made up.
 
Baird, who sells his produce to Three Rivers Market, The Tomato Head and Sunspot, uses what naturally propagates on his farm to tend his produce as opposed to outside chemicals. Corn cobs, chicken and worm droppings, dried fish carcasses, and wood chips are all used to fertilize his crops. Wood ashes and lime are used to prevent insects from damaging his plants and garlic protects his beehives from wax moths and boll weevils. Baird goes to incredible lengths to reuse and recycle whatever is naturally available to him, he says. 

If local organic farms were more readily available, he says, there would be no problems with chemicals on larger farms. “I’m trying to present the freshness of Mother Earth,” he adds.
 
Fellow local farmer Bob Deck agrees. “If local farming can’t remain competitive, the consumer suffers,” he says.

Deck, whose farm is in Strawberry Plains, feels that food grown locally and naturally has a far greater quality than food forced to travel a great distance. 

“The consumer ends up understanding food in a way you shouldn’t,” he says.

Bohmenstiel of Three Rivers says many of these small, local farmers are beginning to work together.

“The whole food infrastructure is changing,” he says. “There is a coalescence that’s happening, but it’s a slow process.”