Instant Rebate Spurs Market Produce Sales

By Kinvelyn Guaba

The Bronx Journal Reporter

Bronxites have long complained that finding cheap, quality produce in the borough is a challenge.  Now many Bronxites are opting to buy fruits and vegetables from the non-profit organization Harvest Home Farmer’s Market, which sells organic produce at inexpensive prices.

Shoppers at the Farmer’s Market on 167th street and the Grand Concourse say that Harvest Home’s prices are better than their local supermarkets.

“Es mas barato (It is cheaper),” says Bronx resident Nievez Rodriguez, 40. “El supermarcado vende la uyama a $2 por libra, Farmer’s vende la uyama entera a $2 (In the supermarket I buy yam for $2 a pound, here I buy an entire yam for $2,” she says.

Farmer’s Market encourages Bronxites to buy organic products by giving customers $2 for every $5 that they spend.

The markets are in several low-income areas in the Bronx: Hunts Point, Throgs Neck, Coop City, Echo Park, Forest Avenue, Jerome Avenue, Mt. Eden Avenue and North Central Bronx.

“Los supermarcados no hacen eso (Supermarkets don’t do that),” she says. “Hoy compre $32 y me regalaron $8 para seguir comprando (Today I spent $32, so they gave me $8 so I can keep buying.)”

Customers like Yanil Rodriguez, 38, a Bronx resident, say that Farmer’s Markets’ produce tastes better than local supermarkets. “It is fresher. Farmer’s picks out their foods a day or two before bringing them here,” she said. “In the supermarket they have to keep refreshing their products with water to keep them fresher, and the taste is different.”

Farmer Elisael Gonzalez, 48, who works at the Fresh Radish Farm in Goshen, New York says that he harvests the produce daily in the afternoon. “Cuando llegan aqui, los productos ya tienen menos de 24 horas cortados, (When the produce arrives here, it has been harvested less than 24 hours before,)” he says.

The farms, all located in the upstate area of New York, do not  use pesticides on their produce.

Gonzalez  says that it takes him two hours to get to the Bronx from his farm.

Therron Scott, 27, a site supervisor at the 167th Street market says that they are usually there every Sunday from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. “We give people coupons, diet recipes,” he says.

Scott explains that these recipes are provided by Emblem Health.

“They try to put it in…low-income areas,” he says. “We set up markets in all boroughs, mainly in the Bronx.”

Customers can use their government-issued benefits such as EBT, WIC coupons, Healthy Bucks, FMNP and Senior Bucks to purchase these foods.

These stands are not as large as a supermarket, but many say they provide much more bang for the buck.