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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] interesting article in local magazine

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  • From: Barking Cat Farm <barkingcatfarm AT mindspring.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] interesting article in local magazine
  • Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 13:35:29 -0500

Interesting article. Here in NE TX, we've seen an explosion of new
"farmer's" markets crop up (pun intended) in the last 5 years. When we first
started growing, there were none within a 50 mile radius except for the
Dallas Farmer's Market. Now there is one in just about every town around,
and new ones are being announced every day. I'm sure it's different in your
area than in mine, but we don't have enough local farmers to support this
many markets. Instead what we see (we've visited a lot of these to suss them
out) is a dearth of produce, fruit, flower and herb farmers and an
overabundance of: veggie and produce resellers; people selling processed
foods like jams, jellies, dog food, pies, baked goods and that sort of thing
which is great if they are making it themselves and not just reselling from
wholesalers; plant sellers; and non-foods -- for instance clothes, books,
candles, soaps, aromatherapy, that type of thing. Mixed in are a few
legitimate other types of food producers like beekeepers selling honey and
other wax products, local coffee roasters, etc. There are of course local
meat producers, but here in TX the laws are so strict that some of the
city-operated farmers markets won't allow them.

There is one market not too far away that is open every Saturday year round.
Don't know what the turnout is, but of course during the winter they have
zero fresh food sellers. You must have a lot of farmers in your area if
someone can make a go of an all-day-every-day market. That is another
problem we've heard discussed among our farmer friends who attend any of the
local markets is the time consumed with working a market. With the
Saturday-morning-only ones, as the majority of them are, it's not as big of a
deal, but one of the bigger and established local markets is open every day
and wants their farmers (and probably their resellers, of which they have
many) there every day. Our farmer friends who go there are trying to educate
the market managers that they cannot both farm and work the market at the
same time, and therefore must strike a balance in order to be successful at
both.

We don't participate in the local farmer's markets for several reasons. One,
we have enough markets and a good customer base so that we are sold out by
Saturday; and two, most of these markets have no rules about participants
having to grow or produce at least a certain percentage of what they sell.
(Tomatoes in TX in December, not from a greenhouse, I don't think so!) There
is one, but they have proven to not enforce the rules they set forth. And
the resellers at these markets aren't going to 'fess up they didn't grow what
they are selling, nor that they have no ties or do not even know where the
stuff came from.

Laurie
BCF



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