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market-farming - Re: Farmers' Markets (sign of the times?) (fwd)

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  • From: Martin Cooke <m.cooke AT dcs.shef.ac.uk>
  • To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Farmers' Markets (sign of the times?) (fwd)
  • Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 13:40:02 +0100


Here in the UK, supermarkets claim to welcome farmers' markets because
they tend to bring people in to the supermarkets too. This may change
when FMs become more widespread and more frequent. I heard that the one
which started up last year in Sheffield (pop 500000, 4th largest city in
England) is currently limited to three a year. No wonder the
supermarkets are not too worried yet. We have some way to go compared to
what I read on this list.

I very much doubt whether the 'who cares where the food comes from' line
would cut much ice with most consumers here though. Trust in
agribusiness and supermarkets is still at a low level after the numerous
food scares we've had. Rather, they're falling over themselves to stock
the greatest number of organic lines, although in practice the veg is
almost never locally-sourced. Food miles is set to become one of the
next big issues over here and being local is going to matter almost as
much as being organic. Shipping organic apples (aka water) from the
antipodes may be as damaging as purchasing non-organic apples from down
the road.

Martin




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