Reducing the number of miles that food travels from farm to table can help both the environment and the economy. The new South Wedge Farmers Market - opening Thursday, June 14, in the parking lot behind Boulder Coffee - uses that as its guiding principle, and will focus on bringing strictly locally grown food to the city.

Husband-and-wife team Chris and Vicki Hartman started planning the farmers market in January and have worked with the South Wedge Planning Committee and other groups to make their idea a reality. The duo has a farming background: they worked on a grass-fed dairy farm in the Hudson Valley and sold cheese at farmers markets in the area. Now living here, Chris says that he misses farming, "but we're excited to get involved in food-related issues from a city-consumer side."The focus of the market is sustainability. Vendors must produce what they sell, must have farms within a 100-mile radius of the city, and must rely on sustainable practices. "We need to refocus food and agriculture to its natural location," Hartman says.

Keeping food local reduces costs and puts more money back into the local economy. Hartman makes his point by using figures he learned at a recent farmers-market conference in Syracuse, where a presenter from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets said that average Americans buy only 2 percent of their food from local sources. If Rochesterians spent 10 percent on locally grown food, Hartman argues, about $40 million would go back into the economy each year. "Health-wise, economics-wise, it would have a multiplying effect," he says.

So far, roughly a dozen vendors have signed up to sell at the market, including Honey Hill Farm in Livonia (chicken, garlic, heirloom tomatoes), Raindance Harvest in Union Hill (eggplant, lettuces, peppers), Hens Honey Bee Farm in Tonawanda (honey and other bee products), and Lighthouse Gardens in Honeoye Falls (perennials).

All of the vendors will post a "farmer's pledge," which identifies the business name, location, and practices. While the focus of the South Wedge Market will be on sustainability rather than on being organic, several of the participating vendors are certified organic.

The South Wedge Farmers Market will run Thursday evenings, 4 to 8 p.m., June 14 to October 18, behind Boulder Coffee at the corner of Alexander and South Clinton. Information: swfarmersmarket@gmail.com.

- Jillian Stevenson