As food prices rise, MTSU students struggle to pay for food and can turn to local farmers, such as the agriculture center on campus and their farmer’s markets.
In the last year, food prices have risen by 2.5%. One of the most poverty-prone groups is college students. Seventy-five percent of college students report financial distress, according to the National Library of Medicine. As new problems emerge for college students, such as the rising cost of living, budgeting related to grocery shopping is undoubtedly of high concern.
At MTSU, the School of Agriculture offers a practical solution: shopping locally. MTSU Agriculture has been selling its products at the farmer’s market on the square for years. However, the debate surrounding whether people should shop locally or at a grocery store is longstanding.
“We have really good students, really hard-working students,” James Flatt, director of farm laboratories for the MTSU School of Agriculture, said. “That makes it extremely easy to come into work every day and know that we are having a positive impact not only on the animals that we’re raising but also on the students we are helping to educate.”
The choice is up to the individual, Flatt said.
On average, the products bought at grocery stores are cheaper than those at a farmer’s market. However, with the rise of inflation, these costs seem to be evening out. As there is more demand at grocery stores, the cost to manufacture products in bulk and ship them is growing. However, farmers participating in farmer’s markets typically do not have to worry about the added costs from a “middleman.”
“From a price and an economic standpoint, farmer’s markets are generally a little bit higher but, instead of buying stuff from a grocery store and those funds going to a middle man and then the farmer only getting a small percentage of that,” Flatt said. “The farmer is getting the direct benefit of being able to sell directly to the customer, which is huge.”
Moreover, there may be some truth in the idea that local produce is more nutritious than wholesale products. When it comes to fresh produce, the less time and distance from farm to shelf, the higher the levels of nutrients.
“Well, they’re fresh – eggs you get at the store are three weeks old at the best, and I was selling day-old eggs … They last a lot longer,” Xander Caywood, a student in the agricultural department, said.
Caywood has been farming since childhood and pointed out that honey at the farmer’s market, for example, is more beneficial than store-bought honey. The local allergens the bees carry are in local honey. This means the health benefit of eating local honey is greater, as it helps immunize the consumer to local allergies.
“You really develop that relationship with the local farmer, and you get that produce, and you know where that produce is coming from, whereas the products in the grocery store come from all over the United States,” Flatt said.
Additionally, 2024 saw unprecedented global temperatures due to carbon emissions exacerbating climate change. This added 41 days of dangerous heat, damaging human health and ecosystems. With MTSU being located in the south, the damage is ever apparent. Buying products from local markets redirects the consumer’s funds from playing for travel costs – which increases carbon emissions – to investing in the farmer.
The ability to sell directly is also educational, Flatt said.
“Students are able to see their product from the feed that we grow out of the ground to cows, to the milk that they milk out when they milk cows, to then it coming over to the plant,” Flatt said, “Seeing it bottled and then seeing it placed on shelves for the entire campus or members of the community to be able to purchase.”
The MTSU Agricultural Center is looking to implement goats and sheep.
“I think it’s a good step,” Caywood said. “I would like to see more sheep and goats. They are a little bit more maintenance because they like to die if you look at them the wrong way … but they’re easier for students to deal with, so it’s more educational.”
Starting a program could prove costly as small ruminants’ prices rise, Flatt said. To regain those costs, it could take the program two to three years. As agriculture is a low-profit business for the farmer, it is “always a struggle,” Caywood said.
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