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

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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Farmers' Markets (sign of the times?) (fwd)
  • Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 09:13:40 -0500


Growers need to emphasize the advantage of buying local to the consumer. The
primary advantage is that it is truly fresh. Supermarkets emphasize how
"fresh" their product is and depend heavily on the consumer believing it.
But if their product came from another part of the world, or 3000 miles away
in California, how fresh is it, really? I contend that it is a case of their
product being Phresch, not fresh. It can be 5-7 days old before the consumer
sees it. Sure, it looks good. But if it was only 12 hours old, like the
local grower, it's culinary and nutritional quality would be superior.

Freshness is measured in hours, not days. Cooling and other postharvest
technologies help but they don't change the fact that the product is alive.
It is constantly respiring, consuming it's culinary and nutritional value.
The longer it takes for the consumer to consume it, the less nutritional and
culinary value will be left for the consumer. On the other hand, if it was
just picked 3-4 hours ago, it's culinary, and nutritional quality, will be
at it's peak. Bottom line, that's why consumers shop at farmer's markets.
They get a superior product they can taste, giving them coinfidence that
they're getting more for their money.

This is the real value to the consumer in buying locally grown product.
Local marketers of locally grown product must emphasize the superiority of
their product and this is it. If they don't, supermarkets will constantly
hammer the consumer with a conflicting story about how phresch their product
is. You, the local growers, are the one's with truly fresh produce. Don't
let them steal that definition away from you because they'll steal the
corresponding market too.

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center

-----Original Message-----
From: delannw <delannw AT dlogue.net>
To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Date: Sunday, May 14, 2000 8:08 AM
Subject: Re: Farmers' Markets (sign of the times?) (fwd)


>Interesting point about supermarket "marketing".
>It's true, I think, that people find supermarkets or superstores more
>convenient for shopping. One stop for everything.
>For this reason, farmers' markets with diverse offerings are more likely to
>succeed in getting people down to the market.
>
>Another point is that superstores are for shopping...not socializing, not
>taking your time. Shopping at a farmers market is more social. People go
>to look, walk around. They ask questions about the produce...try and find
>an employee who can answer a produce question in a K-Mart.
>
>Maybe farmers markets should do a little of their own advertising to point
>out the advantages of knowing the grower, being able to talk to the grower,
>shopping in a less stressful environment, etc... Too much of the
>advertising for farmers markets tends to focus on how cheap the produce is
>compared to supermarkets. That's almost like setting yourself up to fail.
>Cheap doesn't connote good in many instances.
>
>Del Williams
>Farmer in the Del
>Clifton IL
>
>
>
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