Trying to eat local in the heart of California ag country

This post originally appeared on Substack.

Since moving to Fresno in 2021, I’ve been thinking a lot about FOOD: where and how it’s grown, and by whom.

After all, I live in the central San Joaquin Valley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world.

Grapes, almonds, pistachios, tomatoes and cattle ruled as the county’s top crops, which in total generate billions of dollars in value every year.

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In 2024, I made a concerted effort to try and eat locally. I was hoping to try to do my part to support a local food system and local farmers.

What does eating local food even mean? And what could local eating look like in a region dominated by industrial-scale agriculture where so much of our locally grown produce is grown to be exported?

Is it supporting local farm boxes? Purchasing produce from a farmer’s market? Having walkable access to a grocery store or supermarket in my neighborhood? Joining a community garden? Supporting local independent restaurants and street vendors? Reducing food waste and food insecurity in my community? Buying important Mexican mangoes from a fruit seller on the side of a rural Fresno County road?

It’s a concept I’m still trying to understand and define for myself. And while it may have been a noble endeavor, in practice, it was challenging.

The CSA Box rotation
I decided to sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture box to get fresh produce directly from local farmers. Under a CSA program, you can pay a monthly or regular fee in exchange for a box of fruits and veggies from a local farm.

More than just a weekly delivery of food, a CSA program is “a partnership between farms and consumers that keeps independent businesses thriving, helps families eat seasonal, local produce, and charges farmers and consumers with the responsibility of building a strong, equitable food system,” according to the Community Alliance With Family Farmers.

There is a farm box which supports three Black farmers in west Fresno, a historically red-lined community and one that experiences “food apartheid” (I profiled the program for The Bee a few years ago). The program accepts EBT, which is a huge win for fresh food access in one of the most disinvested regions of the city. For context: there are only 10 Black farmers in the county, according to the 2022 U.S.D.A Census on Agriculture.

Participating in farm box programs is not without its inconveniences. Sometimes, you have to pick your veggie box up in person — that means a Saturday morning drive for it.

I decided to cancel the box after a few weeks because I noticed there were non-local products in it, such as avocados from Mexico. I also felt the price of $30 a week was a little steep for the amount of produce I received.

Looking back, maybe cancelling was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. Maybe the non-local produce was donated from a local food bank or grocery store as a way to reduce food waste? Maybe the slower winter months had less produce than a bountiful summer harvest. Maybe I treated the exchange too much like an economic transaction instead of seeing it as an investment in the community.

I hope to support this box again in the future, but I had to keep experimenting.

Next, I learned about the Ferrer CSA box, from a farm in Madera County that grows a variety of fruits and vegetables. They sell their produce at local farmers markets as well. This box came with a huge perk: Every other Monday, they delivered produce straight to my doorstep.

The produce was great. There was winter citrus, kale, herbs and other items. I enjoyed the box so much that I continued with it into the spring.

There was more produce than I could consume in the two-week period between box deliveries. But it was a good challenge to eat and cook with more vegetables — mostly a lot of veggie stir fries with rice, quick and healthy midweek meals.

The harder part of subscribing to this box was that payment was required upfront, which means you’re paying about $190 up front, or about $30 a box, plus a one-time $10 delivery fee or a total of (with discounts for returning customers). Given that my weekly grocery bill is closer to $50 or $70 in my single-person household, this felt a little steep to pay up front, but was doable.

Sometimes, my extra veggies would go bad. I just didn’t eat enough Swiss chard. I should’ve brought more of the vegetables into my office so a coworker could take them home, as I did on occasion.

This steady stream of local, in season produce supplemented my grocery runs, but it couldn’t really replace the store. I still had to make regular grocery visits for staples like grains, beans, eggs, dairy and frozen foods. So it ended up feeling like another expense on top of my regular grocery runs (I didn’t keep a strict accounting of my food bills, so I can’t confirm this). Either way, I was happy to support local farms.

After about two or three seasons, I think I just forgot to sign up again and probably needed a break. With spring and summer coming around, I might sign up again.

Regional farm box?

I went to a cookbook festival in Napa Valley over the summer — a first-time event that brought together chefs, writers and cookbook authors to celebrate the enduring art of print cookbooks. A vendor at a booth said he had these amazing figs that I had to try.

They were delicious, and it didn’t hurt that he also served me a glass of white wine.

After he got me hooked on the free snacks, he told me about this great farm box that I also had to try. I caved and signed up for Farm Fresh to You and then forgot about it.

When a box showed up on my porch a month later, I was pleasantly surprised. But ultimately this was not very local to the central San Joaquin Valley area. These farmers were concentrated further north in California. Still, I really like the flexibility in being able to modify how often you receive said box.

I’m also curious about trying Imperfect Foods to keep foods from going into the landfill, but I guess this defeats the purpose of supporting local.

What about farmers markets?

There are a few farmers markets in town, and the closest one to me is the Tower District farmers market that launched in Spring 2023 (though locals tell me there had been another farmer’s market pre-COVID).

I love having the street closed down for pedestrians and farmers every week during the market. I generally saw the influx of people into the Tower, the introduction of fresh produce, and the new food trucks as a good thing for the community.

Not everyone agreed. Critics of the market said it was “taking away from local businesses” and that food trucks and street vendors outnumbered produce vendors.

The market came back with some changes last year, namely fewer food trucks, though I often forget to swing by (and last year it closed in the winter months due to low attendance, which I think is the case this year, too). I love to support it, since I can walk there to pick up a few veggies, eggs, hummus, summer stone fruit and the mushroom coffee alternative that I haven’t tried yet.

There’s another farmers market a few miles north of me called the Vineyard Farmer’s Market. It’s small but beautiful and has that “farmers market feel:” families strolling and picking their vegetables for the week, coffee in hand; seeing a familiar face selling flowers (hi Glory!) and a handful of small Fresno farmers selling things like squash, herbs, citrus, stone fruit, mushrooms and whatever else is in season. But the hours are really not convenient for my work or lifestyle schedule, so I have only gone about three times (It ends at 12 PM on Saturdays and I guess I like my Saturday mornings to move very slowly.)

My sister and dad text me when they’re at their weekend farmers market in Los Angeles, and get excited when they see produce from Fresno farmers now that I live her. From what I hear, it’s more profitable for our local farmers to go sell in bigger metros like L.A. and the Bay Area, where people have more disposable income to spend on high-quality produce.

I don’t know if there are proper incentives in place at Fresno farmers markets to guarantee local farmers the revenue that will keep them selling locally when they can. Two small farm consultants have told me there needs to be some kind of incentive or guaranteed subsidy to these farmers so that it makes it worth their time and resources to stay and sell in Fresno.

That kind of assistance could be in the works. In 2022, a local coalition was awarded a $65 million from the Build Back Better initiative under way in the Central Valley, which is part of the Biden administration’s effort to build and support an ag-tech economy in the region. Most of the funding will go to local universities for ag-tech research and development but a good chunk of the funds will go toward building a Local Food and Farming Initiative that will support small farmers while also building a stronger local food economy. (Might be time for another story on this.)

I’ll have to dedicate a future post to Fresno’s oldest flea market, Cherry Avenue Auction, on the edge of town. It’s a place I love because it feels like a Mexican tianguis. Local produce? Dried chiles? Furniture? Records? Tacos? De todo hay.

Failed at experiment in second half of year

In the second half of the year, I failed in my experiment to support local farmers.

As a single woman living alone, a CSA box is kind of a lot for just me. Maybe, I can find a friend to go in on it with me and split the cost.

The reality is, I end up doing most of my grocery shopping at Grocery Outlet Bargain Market because it’s nearby in downtown Fresno, it’s cheap and they have a decent wine selection. They don’t always have regular items, but they have a good variety (despite what some may say on “Grocery Outlet sucks now” thread on r/fresno — thanks, Julianna!).

There are also a few overpriced but convenient corner markets walking distance in my neighborhood where I pick things up in a pinch.

When I have the time, and as a treat, I love to visit other small, independent markets like Fresno Deli, a Middle Eastern grocery store and Island Pacific Supermarket and Seafood, a California-based Filipino grocery chain.

I’m not sure if Fresno can sustain many more farmers markets or what role they play in improving food access and supporting a local food ecosystem. I wonder if the market craze has started dying down, too. The Los Angeles Times reported in November that two farmers markets had shut down in the city and others were at risk of closing due to low attendance and slow sales.

In 2025, I’m trying to make a conscious effort to buy more seasonally because, if there’s one thing I’ve learned living in the Valley, it’s the seasonality of local produce.

I will continue to think about what it means to eat locally.

How do YOU eat local, if at all?

What I’m eating: Butternut Squash Flautas With Salsa Verde Cruda (made with a beautiful, locally produced squash)

What I’m reading: “They Call You Back” by Tim Hernandez

What I’m listening to: Is the U.S. Running out of Cropland?

Events on my radar: 2nd Salt of the Earth Encuentro: Cultivating Climate, Food, and Land Justice in California’s Central Valley

Did you know? The San Joaquin Valley is one of the only regions in the world that grows the Sumo Citrus varietal. According to San Diego-based retail fresh produce and grocery supplier, Specialty Produce, most of the orchards are located within a 60-mile area of Tulare County that includes the cities of Porterville, Lindsay, Strathmore, and Exeter. (Shout out to The Glutster for that one!)