For many in The Region, a favorite part of summer and early fall is the many farmer's markets that dot the small towns and cities along the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Fresh food and produce coming directly from Northwest Indiana’s farmer's fields to the consumer means healthy, organic, and often unique products that you wouldn’t be able to get normally at the grocery store. Higher quality products coming directly to consumers at good prices are what these farmer's markets revolve around, and by far one of the most popular markets in the area is the La Porte Farmer’s Market, home to hundreds of different direct-from-producer food products ready to be sold to eager shoppers. That being said, nothing of the scale of the La Porte Farmer’s Market, an event that often features live entertainment and runs weekly from May to Early October, happens without some sort of supervision. That’s where the La Porte Farmer's Market Manager Catherine Langford steps in.
Langford works as an agricultural loan officer for 1st Source Bank in Valparaiso and La Porte as her day job. In her capacity as an agricultural lender, she makes sure that farmers around The Region have the financial resources they need to do business with the public. She went to college at Purdue University and received a degree in Agricultural Economics, with three separate concentrations: Crop Science, Agricultural Business, and Agronomy, which is the study of soil. Her job and education make her well suited to the position of Farmer's Market Manager. She already has established a fine working relationship with many of the farmers participating, as well as a great understanding of the science and logistics involved with farming many of the crops for sale at the market.
This year is her 1st year managing the Farmer's Market, after the previous manager fell ill and was unable to continue in the position. Her new position took place only 13 days before the beginning of the 2017 season, leaving her with little time to prepare. That being said, she nailed it this year, providing the well-known services that La Porte’s Farmer's Market is known for.
“The Farmer's Market is a lot more in La Porte [than in other areas],” said Langford. “We pride ourselves on accepting WIC, SNAP, and Food stamps, so we can cater to younger families but also to those who are on the government nutritional programs to ensure that they have quality local produce.”
Why does Langford work the Farmer's Market, when she already assists farmers with their everyday operations? “I felt that being given the opportunity to be the Farmer's Market Manager, I thought that there was a nice liaison between the consumer and the producer,” said Langford. “I work with the producer every day as an Ag Loan Officer. I feel like it’s my civic duty to help farmers relay their message that they’re not the bad guys to the local consumer.”
In addition to her mission to help farmers with their own personal PR, Langford was raised with a strong drive to help others.
“I was raised by a family that likes to give back,” said Langford. “So it was a good, easy transition for me to assist in managing [the Farmer's Market].”
Langford also manages to directly impact the community whilst managing the market.
“We just want to help out. We don’t want to leave somebody out, we want to make sure everybody’s taken care of. There’s a homeless man that comes by [the market],” said Langford. “He helps some of our vendors, and in turn I buy him lunch almost weekly.”
Langford wants to use the position she’s in to clean up a bit of the agriculture business's reputation. “One of the things that everyone kind of hears [when talking about agriculture] is ‘Oh, Monsanto, Oh, GMO', or ‘organic, all-natural, hormones, or antibiotics', and unfortunately the media and social media sort of take over and people begin questioning what’s real,” said Langford. “We welcome everybody to come to the Farmer's Market and meet real-life farmers. Every year we have ‘Ask a Farmer Day,” and you can literally ask them whatever you want.”
The La Porte Farmer's Market is also unique in that it welcomes farmers of all kinds, be they organic, conventional, or otherwise.
Langford now lives in the La Porte County community of Rolling Prairie, in the house her father grew up in with her husband Cash, who works as a beef cattle manager and their Jack-Russell mix, Peanut, who can sometimes be seen around the La Porte Farmer's Market as their unofficial mascot.
With one of Northwest Indiana’s favorite seasonal events being the Farmer's Market, it’s good to know that someone who has a good knowledge of both the science and business aspects of what goes into making such events possible is at the helm of one of the coolest and most unique Farmer's Markets in The Region.