Hub City Farmers Market, Urban Teaching Farm serve vital role in community

The Hub City Farmers Market, located only minutes from campus, has tackled the important role of educating the public and aiding sustainability in the Spartanburg community. Jordan Wolfe, who serves as the Executive Director for Hub City Farmers Market, provided digital comment on the farmers market as well as their Urban Teaching Farm initiative.

“The Urban Teaching Farm is a half acre farm located at Northside Harvest Park” Wolfe explained. “It is 100% organic and produces 2,000+ lbs of produce a year, which is mostly sold on our Mobile Market or donated to local food pantries. The farm is open every day for the community and is run by our Urban Farm Manager, Kyle.” 

Anna Windle ‘22 and Sarah Peak ‘22 are two Wofford students employed by the college to work at the Urban Teaching Farm. “The farmers market allows Spartanburg residents to learn more about farms in the area and healthy food in general,” said Windle. “During farmers markets, people often walk to the urban farm for a tour so they can learn more about urban agriculture and stay up to date on what’s being grown.

The farm runs two education programs: Seed to Table, a STEM-oriented, state plan approved education program targeting children ages 5-14 and the Youth Farm, an 8-12 week applied work program which occurs in the Summer and Fall for ages 14-18. 

Peak emphasized the importance of the programs in educating local children, especially the Seed to Table events, “Many of them have never seen where produce comes from (other than the grocery store) so getting to explore the farm and learn about how food grows is really exciting for them.” 

“The farmers market supports small and middle sized farms, which often have trouble competing with large farming corporations. There are many different environmental issues associated with these corporations, including a large consumption of energy used to produce and ship crops and destruction of ecosystems as copious amounts of land are cleared out for farming,” Windle said. “The Farmers Market creates a network that connects local farms to consumers which helps decrease the overall environmental impacts associated with large scale farming while also stimulating the local economy.”

Wolfe explained the Urban Teaching Farm’s mission, “In creating the Youth Farm Program at HCFM Urban Teaching Farm, we are trying to create a model that provides people — particularly young people — an opportunity to experience life on a farm.” 

She said,“We are trying to provide people with a place where they get to know each other, where they feel connected to and responsible for others in their community, and where there is a deep and abiding relationship with the land that sustains us all.”