Farmer Ben Burkett Remembers 20 Years Of The Crescent City Farmers Market

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Sharon Litwin

Published October 1, 2015 at 6:00 AM EDT

Ben Burkett family's farm has been in Petal, Mississippi since 1886.

Sharon Litwin, the founding president of the Crescent City Farmers Market, speaks with one of the market's original vendors.

Whenthe Crescent City Farmers Marketwas founded 20 years ago, farmers in nearby rural areas were hesitant about coming to New Orleans. To them the city was a haven of crime and traffic, but connecting the city to the farm created more opportunities than they imagined.

Farmer Ben Burkettnever thought his involvement with the market would take him around the world and into corporate offices. He speaks withSharon Litwin on this week’s Notes from New Orleans.

Louisiana News

Sharon Litwin

Sharon Litwin is the founding president of NolaVie.com, the only daily cultural not-for-profit website of its kind in the United States devoted to exploring all aspects of the quirky, diverse culture of New Orleans. Sharon, along with Renee Peck, NolaVie Managing Editor, wrote, and NolaVie received, a grant from the J-Lab Project of American University, funded through the McCormick Foundation in Chicago, allowing NolaVie to launch in February, 2011. Since 2012, Sharon has produced Notes from New Orleans, a weekly on-air cultural news segment for WWNO that is complemented by her weekly âââ

See stories by Sharon Litwin