By By Christiaan Perez, Staff Writer

On September 16th the University Lackmann  Food Services hosted a farmer’s market in front of Bitts and Bytes. Laura Musa, the Assistant Marketing Manager for Lackmann was on hand to oversee the event and if necessary, prevent the rain from coming. The Farmer’s market is part of Lackmann’s overall campaign to “go green”.        Laura points out that, “Lackmann in general is focusing on going green and trying to be more environmentally friendly”.
The campaign to “go green” started with the elimination of Styrofoam in the cafetria, and has continued to include the encouragement of reusable mugs when buying the morning cup of joe. Laura addes that the reason that the farmer’s market was brought to the University was because, “we wanted to offer something that can help people go green.”
Many of the “going green” platforms were also brought about with as a result of students’ demands. Student groups such as Students for a Greener Hofstra are responsible for much of the pressure that eventually lead to Lackmann’s “going green” campaign. The real test is to see how many of those same students are able to turn out and support the farmers market.   
Brian was convinced to go to the farmer’s market after passing a friend on the uni-span, yet upon arriving he said, “there is not much selection and it is expensive, especially for a student”. Brian added,”I wish they had a fresh produce section throughout the school,” making it easier for all students to access fresh produce.   
Some shoppers were a little more optimistic about the potential of the farmers market. Ashley Dandria would like to see the farmers market expanded, emphasizing, “the farmers market is a very good idea because a lot of students do not have access to locally grown produce.”   
Brian follows up by saying, “I like local foods…I like supporting local farms, it is good for the economy…but it is kind of a joke that they are charging this much money for something I can get from the store for half price”   
Even for those who were willing to pay the price, there were some who were more disgruntled about the options. Professor Jensen said, “I was very excited because I really like the going green movement, but I was very disappointed to discover that they do not have organic.” Jensen goes on to point out that there are signs emphasizing locally grown food, but none of them say organic.            Despite the rain the farmers market was still able to bring out a decent crowd. The next farmers market will not be until October and it will be inside and rain will not be an issue.
 

Students visit the on campus Farmer’s Market (David Gordon/ The Chronicle)