As New Orleans continues its slow slog towards recovery from Hurricane Katrina, the first signs of new life in still-devastated neighbourhoods have often been the markets. It’s fitting that the city that boasts America’s oldest urban bazaar — the newly refurbished French Market in the unflooded French Quarter — should see community markets as a vehicle for economic rebirth, as well as an answer to the absence of national retailers. In addition to several weekly markets that date back pre-Katrina, there are now regular farmers’ markets in the Upper Ninth Ward, Lakeview and Broadmoor, with more planned. The mayor’s office has jumped on this citizen-driven bandwagon by supporting yet another new monthly market on Freret Street, one of 17 officially designated recovery zones.
Right away, a problem emerged: too many farmers’ markets, not enough fresh produce to stock them.
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