Like You Picked It Yourself

By Emily Battle

Now in its 11th year, the Spotsylvania County farmers market at the Gordon Road commuter lot has a waiting list for produce vendors.

Mushroom grower Ken Crider sells out by 10 a.m. on many Saturdays. Market manager Andy Fraser grows more herb and tomato plants every year for his booth, and every year, he sells out.

Now, a small group of people brought together by that market wants to help farmers capitalize on this momentum and try to connect the region's local food resources with more consumers, restaurants and other institutions.

At the center of these efforts is a drive to start a Fredericksburg-area chapter of Buy Fresh, Buy Local, a national program created by the nonprofit FoodRoutes Network that has been adopted by groups all over the country to better promote local farms and food.

In Virginia, chapters exist in Charlottesville, Richmond, Lou-doun County, the Shenandoah Valley and the Northern Piedmont region, which includes Orange, Culpeper and Fauquier counties.

Elizabeth Borst thought that left a gaping hole in the Fredericksburg area. Borst, who has been working at the Gordon Road market this summer for King George County-based Artisan Bread, is leading the effort to start a chapter here.

She and the steering committee she has brought together got certification this week for the local chapter, called George Washington Region Buy Fresh, Buy Local. It will include Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, Stafford, King George and Caroline counties.

Westmoreland County might be asked to join once things get going, since many Westmoreland farmers sell at area markets.

"It's about as grassroots as you can get," said Kevin Leahy, a member of Spotsylvania's Economic Development Authority. Leahy loves to cook, and he's recently started to seek out local sources for what he uses in his own kitchen.

Buying directly from local food producers is a growing trend, according to Matt Benson, an agricultural economist in the Virginia Cooperative Extension's Warrenton office.

Benson recently wrote an article showing that direct farm-to-table marketing in Virginia grew from a $17 million industry in 2002 to a $29 million industry in 2007. The average sales volume per farm grew 51 percent in that period, according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture.