UPDATE: The story ‘Guide links consumers with local produce’ ran in the June 8, 2011 edition of Vida en el Valle.

Readers of this blog know this paradox:

Here in the San Joaquín Valley, we live in the most productive agricultural region in the world. But at the same time, our community faces high rates of obesity, diabetes, and food insecurity. Many people have little connection to the amazing fresh, seasonal, local produce grown in their backyard.

Enter the first edition of ‘Buy Fresh, Buy Local: The Eater’s Guide to Local Food.’

The guide – produced by the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program and the Community Alliance with Family Famers, and supported by the California Endowment – is the first comprehensive listing of all the farms, farmers markets, produce stands, community gardens, U-Picks, CSAs (community supported agriculture), flea markets, swap meets, and school farm stands in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquím, Stanislaus and Tulare counties.

The 32-page guide is more than just an exhaustigve listing, though. It’s a celebration of the Valley’s agricultural heritage. It opens with an essay by farmer David Mas Masumoto, includes a calendar of the Valley’s seasonal harvest, and features profiles – and recipes created by – people and organizations devoted to fresh, local produce.

The guide is intended to connect community members to fresh, local produce, “so we can really change our culture and change our norms, so we are enjoying fresh produce and we are buying local,” said Genoveva Islas-Hooker, of CCROPP, during a press conference at the Garden Market in downtown Fresno’s Courthouse Park Tuesday morning.

The guide will also help the Valley’s small, local farmers connect with urban residents, and provide those consumers with the health benefits of eating local, seasonal produce, said Tom Willey, of T & D Willey Farms in Madera.

For people who want to eat locally and seasonally, the Valley is “probably the best place to live on the planet,” Willey said. The guide could “help make our food culture as big a draw as Yosemite National Park.”

The first edition of the ‘Buy Fresno, Buy Local’ guide can be found for free at www.ccropp.org or www.caff.org. All photos taken at the Garden Market, which runs every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Courthouse Park.

Read more about the ‘Buy Fresh, Buy Local’ guide:

• Taste Fresno: A guide to buying fresh and alocal, and a discussion about stone fruit
• Fresno Bee: New guide aids access to fresh Valley food

Too often, lower-income families in the San Joaquín Valley can’t afford to buy fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Well, the organization Roots of Change, with the support of groups like the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission, is doing something to change that.

Since July 28, families who shop at two downtown Fresno farmers markets, and who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)/Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT), WIC assistance, or senior WIC assistance, have had the opportunity to bring home more healthy food for their families, without paying a cent more than normal.

Through the Fresh Tops program, a person can receive an extra 50 cents for every dollar he or she spends on produce at the farmers market. That means that a customer who spends $10 at the Market on the Mall (on the Fulton Mall) or the Garden Market (at Courthouse Park) could receive another $5 incentive, allowing he or she to buy $15 worth of fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables. (The program will continue until funds expire.)

What a great deal – and a great way to improve the health of our community.

I caught up with Jensen Vang of the EOC at the Market on the Mall on Wednesday afternoon. I put down my bags of fresh peaches, pluots, blueberries, raspberries, and yellow raspberries, and pulled out my notebook, as he told me more about the program.

He said the program has proved to be a win-win for both lower-income families, who can now afford to purchase more locally grown fruits and vegetables, and for local growers, who are selling more produce.

Whether you are eligible for the Fresh Tops program, or just like purchasing local produce, visit the Garden Market at Courthouse Park on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the Market on the Mall, on the Fulton Mall, on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.