Eastern Market goes to Rome conference

Eastern Market CEO Dan Carmody recently returned from a global farmers market conference in Rome with ideas and inspiration to strengthen community food access.

Why it matters: Eastern Market runs a network of farmers markets across the city to make healthy foods easier to get.

• New grocery stores have opened here in recent years, but parts of the city still have few options.

State of play: Carmody joined small-scale farmers, agricultural leaders and other representatives from about 70 countries last month at the World Farmers Markets Coalition's general assembly in Rome.

• "It's a wonderful opportunity to really check best practices and get to know people doing similar stuff all over the world," he tells Axios Detroit.

Zoom in: A massive cashew from Lebanon that Carmody tried at the conference gave him an idea to start growing uncommon produce varieties on 1- to 2-acre plots in Detroit.

• "What if you actually took an acre and grew like 20 exotic potato varieties and that was your specialty?" Carmody pondered.

Context: On top of its wildly popular public market near downtown, the nonprofit Eastern Market Corporation participates in various food access programs, such as pop-up farm stands , wholesale markets and enhancements to Bridge Card benefits for fruits and vegetables.

Stop by: Saturdays from 6am-4pm, year-round.

• Sundays from 10am-4pm and Tuesdays from 9am-3pm through September.