The dirtier, the better? Enacting and contesting sustainable, local foods at a farmers’ market in Copenhagen

Focusing on Grønt marked, a farmers’ market in Copenhagen that is part of a growing regenerative agri-food movement in Denmark, this paper examines how the produce at the market is enacted as “good”, sustainable, and local food. Drawing on ontological politics (Mol, 1999; 2002), I explore how the multiple and sometimes conflicting enactments of “local food” at the market delineate conditions of possibility for food presents, futures and politics. The paper contributes to the growing literature on agri-food transitions and visions of “better” food futures in the context of climate change and sustainability debates.
Started in 2019 by a group of volunteer international food professionals and activists, Grønt marked blossomed during the COVID-19 lockdowns as a “safe” outdoor social event. In 2023, the market has grown from a monthly event to a weekly Sunday market from May to December in four different locations. The market offers affordable stalls to producers of local, regenerative foods, on the condition that the food is sold by the producers.
Based on fieldwork and conversations with the organizers, food buyers, and producers since 2021, I explore the enactments of local, sustainable food at the market. Locality emerges through material properties of the produce, which often carries soil and varies in size, color, and shape. Additionally, proximity to the soil is enacted through encounters between food producers and consumers. At the same time, I enquire how the “sustainability” of the market’s produce relates to food justice and access: different food futures and politics for whom?