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

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] interesting article in local magazine
  • Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 18:12:11 -0400


On Jun 5, 2010, at 4:05 PM, Pamela Crowe wrote:

capitalism was built on letting the weak perish and the strong survive--------[ . . . ]
.
Why do people have this need to control something that is more than capable of doing that itself?


Maybe many people don't like watching the weak perish?

Maybe many people suspect that, at one time or another in their lives, they're likely to be among "the weak"; however strong they were at some other point?

Maybe many people notice that very successful operations and people often started off as "weak"?

Maybe many people notice that when, within human societies, only the strongest survive, eventually all that's left is a behemoth that first tries to itself control others, then often collapses messily of its own weight?


Having said all that, I didn't see, in that article, anyone suggesting laws about how many markets could be in an area: only management companies deciding to choose their particular spots in which to open or not open a new location, and farmers choosing how many markets they felt their particular operations could reasonably supply. The first of these is presumably a similar process to, say, RiteAid or Walmart deciding how many stores to put in a particular area; the second a necessary decision of the type that any supplier has to make about how and where to sell their product. A general discussion of how many of a given type of market fit into any given area strikes me as likely to be useful in making such decisions (I do note that, in at least one case the story mentions, the management company was apparently wrong, as the market they refused to back is, according to the article, thriving.)

I would add that when, say, shopping center developers misjudge how many stores an area can support, the result is often a lot of closed stores all over town, both in the original downtown and in the shopping centers themselves; which can be detrimental to the whole town. That's not likely to be a problem caused by a fairly minimal start up farm market, however, which may use no buildings at all. However, if a dozen markets start up all at once in an area able at that time to support three, the whole dozen may die; leaving all concerned thinking "Farmers' markets just don't work around here" when, in fact, a smaller number might have worked quite well.

In the other direction, I note that the article cited says "Less than 1 percent of agricultural products are sold directly to consumers via outlets such as farmers’ markets and roadside stands, according to the USDA." . That's a huge potential for expansion: even increasing that percentage to somewhere still in the single digits would allow for a lot more markets, a lot more vendors, and simultaneously more sales for those current vendors who want to expand. So the question "how many markets can the area support?" is entirely tangled up with the question "what percentage of the population of this area can be induced to buy at least a portion of their food at the market?" Bear in mind that, say, fifty years ago, the percentage of the population that was immediately willing to routinely drive their kids somewhere in order to buy them lunch was probably pretty small. The fast-food outlets built their markets, aided by societal changes going on at the time. Society changes continuously, not always in the same direction.

(At this point I'd probably better recognize that I'm half asleep after an early morning market and blathering on, and should stop doing so. Some of you may think I should have done so sooner.)

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale







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