By MacKenzie Brower
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Twitter: @mbrowerjourno

With the closing of Food City on Apache Boulevard in Tempe last October, Active Food Arizona’s mobile produce market, Farm Express, has now entered the area to provide access to fresh, affordable produce for residents with little to no access to healthy food.

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, north Tempe is a food desert.

The Farm Express bus comes to Pollack Apache Central Center parking lot every other Tuesday, as well as a few other Tempe locations including the public library.

Carrying a variety of fresh produce items, the mobile produce bus provides healthy, affordable options to residents who don’t have convenient access to groceries.

Farm Express staff confirmed residents said Food City closing left a hole in the neighborhood that the nonprofit aims to fill.

Customers have recently increased in Tempe with the help of the city’s promotion. Farm Express is open to the public at each of its various locations and the public is encouraged to use its service.

Executive Director Elyse Guidas said food is sold at cost and sourced directly from local wholesalers and farmers such as Peddler's Son and Sun Produce Co-Op, which is a small collective of Arizona farmers.

Farm Express offers 50-55 different produce items.

“We have anything to enhance food needs,” Guidas said.

Farm Express has the valuable option, Guidas explained, to “double the purchasing power” of customers with SNAP benefits and Double Up Food Bucks.

For every dollar spent using the SNAP card, customers get a dollar to redeem on additional fruits and vegetables. There are no limits and the tokens never expire.

Sales associate Jacob Pettinato, 30, said a lot of regular customers come from where Farm Express stops like the library and Pollack Apache Center barber shop.

For Irma Hernandez, who works at the barber shop, she said the bus is convenient for her to pick up fruits and vegetables during the workday.

Oftentimes, people find out about Farm Express when they go by it for something like an appointment, Pettinato explained, adding that the mobile market is growing in popularity with students.

Pettinato, along with Coco Pinedo, 30, both came to work at Farm Express after getting tired of their jobs at dispensaries.

Pinedo said she enjoys working at Farm Express and being a “productive part of the community.”

A memorable moment with Farm Express, Guidas said, was when a kid with autism who had an aversion to food but loved buses came in and because of the connection, he tried every item brought on the bus that day.

“We also offer seniors food they haven’t had access to in a long time and they’re schooling us about how to store food or make recipes,” Guidas said. “It’s an incredible program.”

Guidas told Voyage Phoenix in 2018 that she also experienced food insecurity growing up, and the work she does now is motivated by her desire to ensure all families have access to the services needed to lead healthy, productive lives.

The service started out as Fresh Express by the Discovery Triangle Development Corporation in 2014 and has since expanded.

Across the state, according to the organization’s website, 50,000 individuals and families have been served by Active Food Arizona.

For Farm Express’s upcoming schedule of stops, visit activatefoodaz.org/farmexpress.

MacKenzie Brower
Lead News Reporter | Town of Paradise Valley
@mbrowerjournombrower@iniusa.org MacKenzie Brower has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northern Arizona University and specializes in visual storytelling. She was previously the director of photography and Editor-in-Chief of The Lumberjack at NAU, breaking news intern for The Arizona Republic and column writer for FlagLive! MacKenzie studied abroad in Prague at the beginning of 2021, where she practiced landscape and portrait photography. She is passionate about protecting the world’s environment and human rights and hopes to inform social change through reporting. You can find her portfolio at mackenziebrower.photoshelter.com.