The sweet smells of fresh flowers, warm cinnamon rolls and dessert wine fills the air of the Red Stick Farmers Market, and makes it is easy to understand why so many people are attracted to this early morning scene.The Red Stick Farmers Market, organized by the Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance brings small Louisiana family farms together to sell and educate the local community about the different crops and produce they grow on their farms every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon on Fifth and Main streets.”The main purpose is to provide direct field opportunities for farmers,” said Darlene Rowland, BREADA director of development. “If they have to sell their produce wholesale, they’re going up against big distributors. The market provides a place for the community to gather and interact with farmers. [It brings] urban neighbors and rural farmers together.”Rowland said BREADA’s mission is to support the small Louisiana family farms and to build a sense of community between the farmers and their customers. She said the farmers market also helps the local economy.”If you’re buying local, then it’s directly supporting a farmer who’s invested in the local community,” Rowland said. “It puts the money right back into the local economy instead of supporting a huge distributor in California.”BREADA was founded in June 1996, and the first farmers market was in November 1996. Since then, the Red Stick Farmers Market has expanded to a Tuesday market at the Unitarian Church, a Thursday market at 7248 Perkins Road and the six-day-a-week indoor Main Street Market at the Saturday location in downtown Baton Rouge. Rowland said the Saturday market is the biggest with 45 to 50 vendors setting up each week in addition to the 20 to 25 vendors inside Main Street Market. “It makes the city a lot more sophisticated because most big cities now have good farmers markets,” said Mary Ann Sternberg, BREADA board member and internship coordinator for the Manship School of Mass Communication.The Red Stick Farmers Market is the biggest gathering of local farmers, and it is the only official farmers market in Baton Rouge.”What [the farmers market] means to a small farmer is an opportunity to stay in the farming business,” said Copper Alvarez, executive director of BREADA. “They make a lot more money at the farmers market, and it provides them the opportunity, when they come from small areas, to reach a larger audience with their produce. We have several farmers who were about to go under, and through being able to operate in the farmers market, they were able to expand their farm and save their business.”Alvarez said most people become regulars at the Red Stick Farmers Market on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays because they become hooked on the fresh produce. She said there’s a big difference in taste between locally grown produce picked from the bush the day before the market and the produce in shipping for days at a time from other states.”I try to do sustainable agriculture,” said Paul Davidson, owner of EquiTerra Farms in Clinton, La. “My primary thing is blueberries, but I raise lambs, goats, free range chickens for eggs [and grow] some vegetables.”A sign at Davidson’s booth said all of his produce is grown by organic standards, but that his farm is not certified organic because he did not want to do the bookkeeping or paperwork. Davidson said he has a full-time job in addition to his blueberry produce.”[The farmers market] is a fantastic mechanism for local farmers to sell their produce and get market price for it,” Davidson said. “It’s a social thing … There’s a healthy food element … There’s a ‘help your neighbor’ element. It’s the best thing to happen to local farmers and the local community.”
 
 
—–Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]