More than Fresh Fruits and Veggies: Farmers’ Markets as a Locus of Social Participation for Older Adults

Abstract

As awareness of the benefits of social participation for older adults has grown, ideas for how social services agencies can increase older adults’ social participation have proliferated. The goal of this research is to explore how older adults experience the farmers’ market as a hub of social participation. Fifteen older adults in a rural area in the deep South of the U.S. participated in semi-structured interviews. All interviews were transcribed verbatim; transcripts were analyzed using analytic induction techniques. Most participants describe the farmers’ market as an important context for their social participation. They enjoyed the family-like environment, expanded their social network with vendors and volunteers, and received financial support such as the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. Some described their experiences of civil engagement and their contribution to the community. Yet some barriers to their participation exist, such as transportation issues. Implications include further exploration into the potential for farmers’ markets as a context for increasing social participation of rural older adults. In particular, future research should explore the perceptions of social service professionals regarding this connection and the potential for social service agencies to harness the reciprocal nature of the relationship between markets and older patrons.

Keywords:

• Older adults
• social participation
• farmers’ market
• social support
• civic engagement
• social services

Disclosure Statement

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Table 1. Participants’ demographics.

Notes

1 The patron pays in advance for a monthly share of what the farmer produces.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Younghee Lim

Younghee Lim, PhD, MSW, is a professor of social work at the University of Mississippi. Her primary research area is poverty, specifically measuring the effectiveness of antipoverty policies and programs on health and wellbeing of the financially vulnerable American households. Her research interests specifically include work support policies, financial capability, welfare reform, income inequality, over-indebtedness, and community-engaged research and teaching.

Misa Kayama

Misa Kayama, PhD, MSW, is an associate professor of social work at the University of Mississippi. Her research focuses on the cultural shaping of the experiences of stigmatization due to disability and other intersectional issues such as racism, xenophobia, and poverty through cross-cultural, ethnographic approaches and cultural analyses of policies. The findings have been published in a number of peer-reviewed journal articles and two academic books.

Amy Fisher

Amy Fisher, JD, LCSW, is an associate professor of social work. Her research focuses on social work student learning and development, particularly how students learn about how to work within the complexity of human services setting, with exploration and examination of themes of anti-racist and anti-oppressive education and practice. She teaches mainly in the MSW program, with a focus on clinical classes.

Monica Calderon

Monica Calderon, LMSW, PCMHT, is a mental health therapist at Communicate, Oxford, Mississippi. Her area of research interests include substance use/addiction, effects of poverty on the mental and behavioral development of individuals and families, and social justice.