Market Farming

["Michaele Blakely" <mjb AT premier1.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Wiediger, Alison <awiediger AT Hart.k12.ky.us>
To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2000 7:52 AM
Subject: RE: Market Associations


>
> > Decide whether it is to be for farmers only, and if it is, set up some
way
> to certify those farmers in what they grow.  The organization I have been
> selling through for 10 years, has rules that say "most of the produce sold
> is to be grown by the seller".  Totally impossible to enforce, exacerbated
> by the fact that the directors and officers are the worst offenders. On a
> typical day, over 50% of what is sold at our market is sold by resellers,
> and they sell it as "homegrown

I sell at two markets (and this year it will be three) where it has moved
from a 20% import of produce to 100% farmer grown for these exact same
reasons.  Having sold at markets where anything goes the 100% markets are by
far the most successful.  The consumers love coming to a market they know
the farmers have grown it all.  It builds upon itself year by year.  Of
course there are violations; those are handled quickly by vendors usually.
Originally when these markets were started the 80-20% policy was brought in
because the market managers felt for the first few years it would be hard to
get a wide diversity from a new market.  I don't think that was  the case
and we could have been okay with 100% in the beginning.  It caused some
flagrant violations and finally things came to a head and the policy was
changed.
Education is the key, for the consumer, the managers and the farmers that
the integrity of 100% farmer grown will in the long run make for a more
prosperous market.
Michaele Blakely
Growing Things
Carnation WA