trans•act is an international research fellowship funded by the Ford Foundation and housed at marketumbrella.org in New Orleans, LA, since the summer of 2007.
trans•act tests the hypothesis that public markets in general, and farmers markets in particular, are not just good for local food producers and consumers. They, in fact, are good for communities overall because they build social cohesion, particularly among groups that otherwise have little reason or opportunity to interact, such as rural farmers and urban consumers; rich and poor; old and young; black and white. We call this threefold set of benefits a “triple bottom line” because they have the capacity to build three types of capital: financial capital, or profits, benefiting farmers; human capital, or health, happiness, and other benefits to consumers; and social capital, which we define as community cohesion or TRUST, benefiting communities as a whole. By understanding these benefits and how they accrue, we can begin to communicate to various constituencies why and how they may wish to utilize farmers markets.
For those who are interested please visit
http://transact.marketumbrella.org
look under fellowship 2008, New Orleans fellow
contact admin@marketumbrella.org
