[NAFEX] food prices
road's end farm
organic101 at linkny.com
Fri Jul 6 07:48:06 EDT 2007
On Jul 6, 2007, at 2:41 AM, Stephen Sadler wrote:
> The produce [at farmers' market] is fresh, delicious, varied, and
> pricey. Much cheaper
> to go to the grocery.
Don't go to farmers' markets for cheap. Go for quality.
Those high-priced markets are also usually high-priced for the farmers
to go to, both in market fees and in either driving time or the cost of
living/owning a farm in an expensive area. The amount of time involved
in bringing to market high-quality produce, properly packed so that it
will hold its quality and so that it looks good to the customer, and of
varieties suited to that particular market's customers, picked at the
right stage for that particular market's customers, is also
considerable. Most farmers are still barely scraping by. When we sell
at market, we're doing the farmer's job, the packer's job, the
trucker's job, the market researcher's job, and the produce manager's
job. We'd like to be paid for our time.
Most markets do have vendors who are cheaper than others. Many areas do
also have markets that are cheaper than others. Some of the cheap
markets are full of resellers: the produce was bought on sale wherever
it was cheapest, and possibly repacked for the market. Such produce may
be less fresh than the stuff in the grocery. Some markets don't allow
this; ask about the market rules. In those that do, if you want local
produce, try asking what the varieties are, and other information about
how the crop was grown. Of course many people will tell you honestly
whether they grew it themselves, and if not whether it came from a
neighbor or from six states away; it's not their fault if most
customers don't bother to ask.
Some people selling cheap may be growing their own. Some of them are
new sellers, or hobby sellers, with no idea what their cost of
production is. Some of them are growing a relatively small number of
crops in relatively large quantities, varieties chosen generally for
highest production rather than highest flavor, machine harvested and
packed instead of hand work. There's nothing wrong with this in itself,
and it can give the market cheaper sources of basic items for those who
are primarily looking for a bargain, and for those who genuinely have
very little to spend.
Many people assume their food should be the cheapest possible. Then
they pay large amounts extra for a pair of jeans, because they like the
fit, or the brand name. Shouldn't the quality of what goes in your body
be worth as much as the quality of what goes on your rear?
(Conflict of interest announcement: member Yates County Cooperative
Farm & Craft Market; downtown Penn Yan, NY. No, we're not the Windmill
market!)
--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 2758 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/private/nafex/attachments/20070706/78e4b20f/attachment.bin
More information about the nafex
mailing list