Abundance Food Co-op Blog Post by Elizabeth Henderson
There is a new source of local produce in the Abundance Food Co-op produce department – the Fresh Farmers Together Marketing Association (FFT). This new collaborative doesn’t operate like a traditional distributor. It is a grassroots, farmer-led association of very small farms, two of them producing on only two adjacent backyards that launched in June 2026.
FFT does not own any of the crops they sell, instead aggregating product on a weekly basis from participating growers based on availability, and selling most of it at their shared booth at the Rochester Public Market, Saturdays from 7 am to 1 pm, Shed D. As of mid-July, some of their fresh, local produce will be on sale at Abundance.
A central priority of Fresh Farmers Together is to increase the number of new farms, especially farms owned and managed by BIPOC farmers, in the Rochester area and to provide them with training in agroecological practices and business management so that they can provide a decent living for farmers and farmworkers based on fair prices and fair working conditions. A hope is that public enthusiasm for this new group will help the farmers gain access to more land.
FFT is grateful for support from the Friends of the Public Market and the Public Market. So far, nine farms have paid their dues to join Fresh Farmers Together. The “largest” of them has three acres in production. They are located in Rochester, Irondequoit, Lima, Walworth, Palmyra, and Churchville. Some participants only sell a small percentage of their overall sales through FFT, while others sell 70-80% of their total sales.
Farmer participants agree to uphold the group’s quality and packing standards as set by the participants together and to provide product in a timely manner. Though none is certified organic, all of the farms use sustainable practices, avoiding synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, toxic pesticides and herbicides and relying on building soil health through nutrient recycling, cover cropping, compost, and rotations.
FFT operates as a not-for-profit, and any net income at the end of the financial year will be distributed back to the grower participants. Their work together is based on the cooperative values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of the international cooperative movement, Farmer Fresh Together participants believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others.
Please seek out their offerings in the Produce department and visit their booth at the Public Market! You can also follow them on Instagram: FreshFarmersRoc to find out more about each member farmer and see what’s at the market each week.
A food coop member since the 1970’s wherever she lived, Elizabeth Henderson has been a shareholder in Abundance Food Co-op for decades. She founded the Community Supported Agriculture Project, which has its designated pick up location at Abundance from the months of June through November. The vegetables come from Ruth Blackwell’s Mud Creek Farm these days since Elizabeth retired as an organic farmer. Elizabeth continues to be active as a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association Policy Committee, the Rochester Food Policy Council and the Urban Agriculture Working Group. She also helps out at the Magnolia Street community garden and mentors organic farmers and gardeners.