Market Farming

[Ryan Wood-Beauchamp <woodbeau AT gmail.com>]

Anyone know where to purchase winstrip trays?  I'm looking for 128's.

-Ryan Wood-Beauchamp

On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 1:22 PM, <market-farming-request AT lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:

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Today's Topics:

  1. Farmers Markets and Farmers (Harriet Allen)


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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 07:57:14 -0800 (PST)
From: Harriet Allen <hattie_allen AT yahoo.com>
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Market-farming] Farmers Markets and Farmers
Message-ID: <981664.53071.qm AT web56904.mail.re3.yahoo.com">981664.53071.qm AT web56904.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I've been watching this list for several days and wanted to share a little about our market.? The market I was fortunate enough to help in starting, The Historic Lewes Farmers Market in Lewes, DE is a producer only market and we took most of our by-laws from the by-laws used at Dupont Circle Market in Washington, DC and by all the Fresh Farms markets www.freshfarmmarket.org.? I wasn't sure we needed to go to all the trouble we did setting up all these by-laws, doing all the farm visits and vendor visits, fund-raising, marketing, etc. etc.? I am so glad the President of the board knew better and was very careful about how it was set up.?
?
I think the question we should be asking is HOW.? How do we make and keep a market as a producer only market?? This much I know:? Our board is NOT made up of farmers because farmers generally have not got the time for all the work.? I am the only grower on the board, and I help with vendor relations and farm inspections and general education for the board AND for the vendors.? The biggest reason for success is the amount of planning and work and community support for the market.? If you want?a producer-only market, you have to take your market very seriously and put in a lot of work.? The community will appreciate you and the farmers and vendors will appreciate you and the community.? You will end up educating the community (and the vendors) about local food, sustainability, etc.?
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It is too much to write, but take a look at the mission statements of Fresh Farms, or our market www.historiclewesfarmersmarket.org.
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We, as growers, have to take charge of our own markets in the sense that if we want them producer only we have to work at it.? If you are going to direct market more and more of your produce you've got to bite the bullet and learn how to market.? This was never my strong point and I would rather be in the garden than working in an organization, but to do otherwise is to sell myself short and to do what I do helps a lot of other local growers to improve their businesses and to contribute to the local food movement.?
?
We are NOT alone--there are plenty of GREAT producer-only markets across the country.? I am seeing on this listserve many of you with less than authentic markets, but start looking at the markets that work and that ARE producer only and take a model that can work for you.? Start campaigning with your community leaders to educate them about this and start your own producer only markets, but get board members who are NOT so much farmers, but community leaders of retirement age with energy who have some time and interest...because your farmers are going to get too busy.
?
Start "inspecting" the farms--and not just to check them out, but to develop a relationship with your growers.? We visit every farm and the farmers and vendors themselves now come to us if they see anything suspicious at market. We follow up everything brought to us and have found very little "dumping," and usually need only give the vendor a slap on the hand.? You see, we know a vendor is authentic because we have already screened them, seen their operation and have a PERSONAL relationship with them.? Those relationships formed through visits and our interest and fascination about what our vendors do and how hard they work form an amazing community market.
?
It is?not enough to set up a table and sell your things and expect the rest to happen.? But you can create a producer-only market with integrity that will touch many lives and enrich all of them.? Look to New England, look at the Metro D.C. markets, look out west, search for a model that might work for you and get some people together who might make good board members or know how to recruit board members.
?
Our market board is all volunteer.? We work with our Dept. of Ag., but we are a separate non-profit.? We also have an army of volunteers who come each week to help the vendors setup and breakdown. We recruited them...we held fund-raisers, we sent out press-releases, we spoke to the community and asked for their help.? We have chef demos, a librarian from the local library reading out loud to children from topic appropriate children's book, we support the tomato growing season with a tomato festival, etc. This did not happen in one season.? Start small, but keep very firmly to a set of by-laws that lays out exactly how you would like to see the market.? Decide that the preponderance of vendors will be growers and not prepared food vendors.
?
Once you are popular, you are going to need those by-laws because EVERYONE will want into that market.? Believe me....when we started out, we could not find enough farmers or other vendors.? Now, we are turning them away every day...all manner of people preparing perfectly wonderful food would like a tent at the market, but we are constantly able to remind them and the city of Lewes and the state that we are a producer only market with a focus on promoting sustainable farmers and that empty slots will likely go to a grower.? We repeat this mantra often now, and have a wonderful market because we stick to our guns.

Building a good market is worth it--and in countless ways that won't be obvious at first.??You are not alone and there is lots of help out there for you.? I encourage you to start digging and start planning in the New Year how you can help to bring something like this into your community and into your own life.
?
Hattie Allen
Hattie's Garden
Lewes, DE 19958
Zone 7 (at least sometimes!)
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End of Market-farming Digest, Vol 96, Issue 1
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