Chubbuck now has its own farmers market

CHUBBUCK, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Getting the freshest produce just got easier in one local community.

Chubbuck now has its own farmers market.

The market will be held on Wednesdays in the Geronimo's parking lot off Chubbuck Road.

Linda Larsen took a look at the importance of this new market to local farmers, and why farmer's markets are more important now than ever.

We saw it at the beginning of the pandemic. Empty shelves in the stores and produce rotting in the fields.

Food in the U.S. travels an average of 1,500 miles to get to your plate. All this shipping uses large amounts of natural resources, and if that shipping chain is broken it can cause huge problems.

One important link to building a strong local food economy: farmer's markets.

"I think one of our most important things right now is to help our local economy keep going, help our local economy keep going help our local economy get through this really, all of us together. I think the more that we can keep all that inside our own towns the better. Rather than support someone that's far away you can support someone that's right here and get great food for your family," Wendy Swore of Swore Farms said.

And it's a win-win the farmers are able to provide a strong local food supply, and we are able to get just what we want at its very freshest and know exactly where it came from.

"You can ask questions, you can get the freshest food. Ask questions what they spray ask questions how they grow it. There is no speeding up the harvest or anything like that speeding things up chemically that's not done when you have a farmers market," said Ellen Loomis of Portneuf Valley Farmer's Market.

The new Farmers Market in Chubbuck gives us another day during the week to get what we need. But it also helps the farmers with their harvest.

"The way that produce is a lot of times you can't wait a whole week before you go ahead and harvest the next thing because it will get oversized," Swore said. "It makes it so we can pick it during the week to make sure you always get the best quality of produce that nothing's overdone or too early we can just do it right on time."

The new Chubbuck Farmers Market is sponsored by the Portneuf Valley Farmers Market in Old Town Pocatello.

The Chubbuck Market starts this Wednesday from 5 until 8 p.m.