GATHER & GROW: Building a bridge from Georgia’s fields to city tables

By Sagdrina Brown Jalal, Farmer’s Market Strategist

There has always been a road between Georgias fields and its cities. It has always carried more than produce. From my many visits between urban centers and small towns, I’ve come to understand that this road carries stories, livelihoods and the quiet labor of women who keep our communities fed.

In March, as we honor International Women’s History Month, that intention feels layered with memory. In 1937, Georgia established Rural-Urban Cooperative Markets. That same year, the Atlanta Municipal Markets Women’s Division began formally organizing women producers to bring their goods into the city. These efforts were designed to connect rural farmers with urban families, creating structured economic pathways at a time when access to markets was limited.

The Women’s Division was significant not simply because it existed, but because it formalized women’s leadership in food commerce. It affirmed that women were not just helpers in agriculture, but organizers, entrepreneurs and economic drivers in their own right. It was practical work. It was relational work. And it was led by women who understood that feeding a community required more than transactions. It required trust.

Nearly 90 years later, that legacy of connection between field and city finds new expression at the Grant Park Farmers Market. Founded in 2011 under the umbrella of Community Farmers Markets (CFM), Grant Park has grown into one of Atlanta’s most vibrant Sunday traditions. What began with neighbors dressed as vegetables knocking on doors the night before opening day now welcomes thousands of shoppers each Sunday morning.

But markets are not sustained by turnout alone. They are shaped by leadership  and by women who understand that the connection between rural soil and urban tables is both practical and deeply human. Under the stewardship of market manager Jennifer Thompson, Grant Park has become a living bridge  between farmers and families, between coastal heritage and city kitchens, and between agricultural memory and future possibility.

Markets are more than places to shop, Thompson said. They’re living infrastructure. They’re spaces where farmers and neighbors build trust over time.

That trust is visible the moment you walk through the market. Farms lead the layout. Produce anchors the entrance. Chef demonstrations highlight ingredients grown that week by Georgia producers. The message is consistent: farmers are not an accessory to the market, they are its foundation. Thompson has also championed a farmer advisory committee, ensuring that producers have a direct voice in decisions. We can’t say we center farmers if they don’t have a seat at the table, she said. Advocacy means building systems where farmers are heard, not just celebrated.

That intentionality shows up in vendors like Julia Asherman, owner and operator of Rag & Frass Farm in Jeffersonville. Asherman’s Certified Organic Farm is rooted in soil conservation and biodiversity. Her tables are layered with heirloom seed varieties, specialty watermelon, and carefully crafted sugarcane syrup, each a reflection of patient, disciplined stewardship.

In 2024, CFM honored Asherman with the Lady Locavores Award, recognizing women transforming Georgia communities through food. Additionally, Asherman was named Land Steward of the Year in 2025 by Georgia Organics. She credits the market’s success to this farmer-first philosophy: The farmers are the glue, she said. The more that markets can recognize that, the more likely they are to succeed.

Asherman joins a circle of women recognized through the Lady Locavores Awards, including this columns author, who was honored in 2023 with the Advocate Award. Since 2016, these awards have celebrated dozens of leaders in Georgia’s local food system. The event, held on Women’s International Day on March 8, supports CFM’s educational chef program, which provides community cooking demonstrations that expand access to seasonal produce.

This bridge-building extends to the Georgia coast, specifically to Sapelo Island, a place where land and foodways are deeply intertwined. Through engagement with farming communities there, Thompson has supported efforts to revive heritage crops and strengthen connections between coastal producers and mainland markets. This rural-to-urban exchange echoes the very purpose of those 1937 cooperatives.

When these goods reach Atlanta tables, the exchange is more than economic. It is historical continuity. Resilience at Grant Park is collective. Despite severe frosts and storms, the market has canceled only three times in five years.

When farmers are low on produce, the community still needs to show up, Thompson said. And farmers remain committed to feeding the community.

In March, we honor the women who have shaped our communities  often quietly and cooperatively. Grant Park stands as living proof that food has always been more than sustenance. It is strategy. It is structure. It is stewardship passed from hand to hand.

When women build systems of care around food, they are not just growing crops they are growing the future.

Sagdrina Brown Jalal is the Georgia Grown farmers market coordinator and a consultant specializing in food systems and professional development. Contact her at sagdrina@sagedcollective.com. Gather and Grow celebrates the success stories of Georgia’s local farmers markets and showcases the innovative ways these markets connect producers with their communities to find new, effective paths to market. Learn more at www.georgiagrown.com.