news updates

Thanks to the help of wonderful surveyors and enthusiastic market-goers, we started the process of interviewing market shoppers and vendors, as well as observing market day interactions amongst the two groups. The interviews not only give transact snapshots of the who, what, where, when, and why’s of market visits, they also provide crucial quantifiable data, which through analysis will help us discover how markets are (we hope!) supporting the growth of social capital in the New Orleans area.

Over the next week and a half, we will implement NEED at the Thursday Mid-City Market, the Saturday Downtown Market, and even go out into the neighborhoods around each of the markets to interview local residents. By extending our data collection beyond the markets themselves, we hope to identify how the markets are impacting the local food environments, find out why or why not residents choose to shop at the markets and simply spread awareness of the markets’ existence.

Keep an eye out for us and volunteer to fill out a survey! Your input supports the farmer’s market movement not just here in New Orleans, but all throughout the world. And, if we miss you this time, no worries! Stay tuned for news on more exciting research opportunities from transact in the upcoming weeks…