Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

This is a problem we've seen ourselves. People don't go to markets to get the 
same stuff in the supermarket. It can destroy a market permanently for 
everybody.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scammers at the Farmers' Market: How to Make Sure You're Supporting Local 
Farmers
Be educated, be vigilant, know what's in season!
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/scammers-at-the-farmers-market---and-how-to-make-sure-youre-supporting-local-farmers.html
By Colleen Vanderlinden  Wed Sep 29, 2010 07:48
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/scammers-at-the-farmers-market---and-how-to-make-sure-youre-supporting-local-farmers.html

Apparently, the popularity of farmers' markets is just too much temptation 
for some unscrupulous vendors.

NBC Los Angeles' news team decided to do some checking around at local 
farmer's markets, and paid visits to the farms where the vendors claimed they 
grew the food they were selling. In some cases, they found fields full of 
weeds or dry, empty fields. The vendors were selling vegetables and fruit 
they had bought wholesale, and were selling it at premium prices at local 
farmer's markets, claiming it was locally grown and organic.

As to the "organic" claim, NBCLA also sent several items purchased from 
vendors who claimed not to use pesticides to labs for testing, and the 
results came back positive for pesticides. One of the "farmers" claimed that 
the pesticides found on their produce was the result of overspray from nearby 
farms, but the levels found on the tested produce were too high for it have 
been mere "drift."

This particular story was reported in California, but there's no doubt that 
it's happening all over the country. Near my home, for example, there is a 
"farmer's market" in a church parking lot every weekend during the summer. 
How they managed to have perfect-looking "locally grown" watermelons in early 
May in Detroit is beyond me. Needless to say, I don't shop there.

How To Make Sure You're Supporting Local Farmers Rather than Slimy 
Opportunists

    * Research, research, research. Try to get to know a few vendors really 
well. Ask where their farm is located, how long they've been farming, how 
they handle pest and disease issues. See if they're listed on sites like 
LocalHarvest -- not all farmers are, but it doesn't hurt to check. Ask them 
the specific variety of whatever produce they're selling. If they really grew 
it, they should be able to tell you that those are 'Emerite' filet beans, not 
just "green beans."

    * Look over the display. Really look. This is a great tip from Homegrown 
Evolution. Are all of the tomatoes the exact same shape and size? Do the 
apples have that waxy supermarket look? Are the cucumbers all perfectly 
uniform? Are they selling "local" watermelon in Detroit during the first week 
of May? If so, they probably went to the warehouse club and bought produce to 
sell at a premium at the farmer's market. Steer clear.

    * Know what's in season! If you see watermelon in April or peppers in 
December in Minnesota or Michigan, chances are good that they have not been 
grown locally. While some farmers have large heated greenhouses to grow 
produce year-round, not all do, and it pays to ask questions if the vendor is 
displaying a lot of out-of-season produce.

As with many things when you're trying to live a more sustainable life, we 
need to be vigilant and educated. Don't trust that just because the sign says 
"farmers' market," you're supporting nothing but local farmers. While the 
majority of vendors are legitimate, it's unfortunately up to us to make sure 
that we're buying from them, and not some crook who's trying to take 
advantage of the situation.