Fresh Eats Fadin’ in the Hood: Local Food Desert Deepens
With last year’s closing of the Walmart on San Mateo Blvd. and Zuni Rd., access to fresh, affordable foods has become even sparser in Albuquerque’s International District.
by Shannon Yvonne Moreau
With last year’s closing of the Walmart on San Mateo Blvd. and Zuni Rd., access to fresh, affordable foods has become even sparser in the neighborhood. The old John Brooks Food Town and farmers’ markets at Caravan East (now a library!) are remnants of a bygone era. Albuquerque’s International District is becoming a food desert.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines a food desert as a low-income community lacking stores that sell healthy and affordable food. A significant chunk of the International District (Zuni from Louisiana to Wyoming) was categorized as a food desert by the USDA in 2019. With recent supermarket closings, this condition is spreading and worsening. The loss of sources for healthy food is a blow to a neighborhood already plagued by challenges such as lack of housing and access to medical care.
The need for fresh food is why farmers’ market manager Carlos Flores decided to bring his farm-grown produce to the neighborhood. Flores and his partner, Cesar Gonzalez, started the Mesa Verde Community Growers Market in the International District. Located at the Mesa Verde Community Center park on Marquette Ave. and Tennessee St. (nearest major cross streets Copper and Lomas), the market enters its third year of operation this summer.
“The key to health is good nutrition,” says Flores. “Fresh fruit and vegetables are a huge part of that.”
The Mesa Verde market is a small operation, running from August to the beginning of October. Flores and Gonzalez are farmers, co-managers of the growers market, members of the New Mexico Farmers Market Association, and both have other lines of work. Flores is a musician in Latin folk music band Mezcla Latina and a counselor and Gonzalez is a Community Health Worker at UNM. Between the two of them, they bring fresh, pesticide-free, and reasonably priced garden vegetables and fruits to market. A third vendor, Rommy Joyce, sells fresh-baked bread and pastries as well as eggs from the family poultry farm. (There’s nothing like farm-fresh eggs!)
Flores and Gonzalez have future plans for the Mesa Verde market. They’d like to bring in more farmers and vendors, which has proved to be a challenge. “A lot of the farmers are established and they have one market. And being a farmer, I understand how much work it is to try it at another market space,” Flores says. They’d also like to set up a space where seniors can get help applying for food assistance programs on site.
Fill your shopping bags with farm fresh produce at the Mesa Verde market starting in August.
Mesa Verde Community Growers Market
7900 Marquette Ave. SE, 87108
Parking lot of Mesa Verde Community Center and Park
Saturday, August 24 through Saturday, October 5, 2024
11am to 2pm
Payment methods accepted: SNAP, EBT, Double Up Bucks, WIC, cash, debit card, credit card
If you’re interested in being a vendor at the market, contact Carlos Flores at carlosmezcla@gmail.com or 505-804-1411.
Other farmers markets in Albuquerque:
Rail Yards Market - 777 1st St. SW Albuquerque 87102
Downtown Growers' Market - 810 Copper Ave. NW Albuquerque 87102
Los Ranchos Growers' Market - 6718 Rio Grande Blvd. NW Los Ranchos 87107
South Valley Growers' Market - 3907 Isleta Blvd. SW Albuquerque 87105