Market Farming

["William H Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>]

Leslie

It sounds to me like the only ones happy with the arrangement are the
President and VP. They are doing a vast disservice to the community, to the
vendors and to the original sponsors. I would seriously consider how to
convince the original sponsors to start over (without Mutt and Jeff). They
sponsored the market because they sought certain outcomes. Consider what
those were and present a plan that would give them another opportunity to
reach those goals. Find allies who have connections and make your case. A
situation like that is intolerable and unsustainable. It's a shame and it
shouldn't be allowed to persist. In the long run it won't, but in the short
run it'll do a lot of damage in the market place. 

Bill
William H. Shoemaker
Sr. Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - Crop Sciences
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL, 60174
630-584-7254, FAX-584-4610 
wshoemak AT illinois.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Leslie Moyer
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 3:56 PM
To: Market Farming
Subject: [Market-farming] Ineffective market saga...suggestions? (long)

This is very long....apologies in advance.  It has been all I can do to not
complain about the market I attend.  I've written about 10 emails and
deleted them prior to sending.  Mostly because I think I know the answers to
my problems, but I'm not ready to do anything about solving them yet. But
here goes....maybe you all have suggestions I can't see from sitting so
closely to the problem.

We have a TERRIBLE board at the market I attended last season.  I moved here
2 years ago and prior to that I wasn't a vendor, but I was the secretary of
the board of a large farmers market (about 70 vendors--all grown/produced
within the state, no resellers--mostly food, very few crafters) in a nearby
town (about an hour away). I served as the mid-week market manager for that
market for one season and was on the board for 2 additional years (3 years
total), where I was very active and put out a nice customer newsletter for 3
years.  (As secretary, I did a monthly vendor newsletter as well.)  The
market wasn't without its problems, but it functioned very smoothly and
effectively and I learned a lot.  That market is now up to probably near 100
vendors.  I've also been involved with a statewide local food initiative
(Buy Fresh Buy Local) and, due to that, I've worked with a lot of other
market managers, vendors/farmers, and market board members across my state,
including the peo
 ple who started THIS market.  

I just started selling vegetables last year, but just dabbled (1/2
acre)....our farming plan is primarily an orchard and we've been readying
the ground for that these past 2 years (spent the first year deciding
precisely where to put it and this past year cover cropping, deer fencing,
etc.). Our first 200 trees are arriving in March & by 2013 we'll have about
7 or 8 acres in orchard trees. I'm also selling plants this year--herbs,
vegetable transplants, edible shrubs, etc.  And the move, in general, was
sort of complicated. That is all to say I've been busy and I still have a
lot to do.

The board here consisted this year of 5 people, but one quit very early in
the season and was not replaced as far as I know.  The president and VP
started the market.  The president is an elderly woman and, due to some
health problems this spring, the VP was in charge of most things.  They're
both control freaks and, though several people (myself included) have
volunteered to do many things (particularly PR things), they have refused
all help and made life miserable for those who tried to help in any way.
They had a PR person who quit in frustration when the Pres and VP would not
allow her to ask vendors if they wanted the newspaper to interview them for
personal stories throughout the year.  Actually, first they fired her, then
passively allowed her back on the board, then she quit again in frustration.


The VP was instrumental in getting the market started 4 years ago when she
was employed with a local governmental organization who helped to launch the
market financially. At some point during the formation, she was fired from
her job.  I don't know any of the details....I only know that the result is
that the market has a VERY POOR relationship with SEVERAL local
organizations and governmental agencies that we NEED desperately to have a
good relationship with.  It's a small town--we can't afford to make enemies.
They have a poor or non-existent relationship with every single
governmental, business, and educational entity (a university in our small
town is a very important asset) that exists in our area with the POSSIBLE
exception of the Extension Service....I say "possible" because, given enough
time, poor communication will sabotage that one, too, if it hasn't already.


The board does NOT tell the members when or where the board meetings are,
they do NOT give us meeting minutes to tell us what went on in the meetings,
and on the single occasion this summer when they did tell us about a
meeting, they changed it and held it earlier in the day without telling
anyone (even though most vendors were present--it was held during the market
hours--and some could have attended, myself included).  As a 501(c)3, these
meetings are supposed to be open not only to the vendor members, but to the
public, I believe, right?

The other two members of the board are ineffectual, at best.  They basically
have no voice, but don't seem to care to do anything differently from the
Pres and VP, either.  

The main problem with their ineffectiveness has been the COMPLETE lack of
publicity for the market (and, hence, poor customer attendance).  Their
signs are small and faded, they do virtually NO advertising and the little
bit they do is completely ineffectual.  They have many sources of free PR
and goodwill via networking with existing community organizations (who WANT
to work with us!) that they are not taking advantage of, and, in fact, are
working counter to.  However, despite that, a small group of 3 of us vendors
were able to pretty much coerce them into changing locations for the coming
year that will HELP make them more visible.  However, it will also make it
harder for existing customers to find the market unless they do a good job
of PR in the early spring (they won't).  [Previous location was TERRIBLE, by
the way!!!!]  They already frittered away the fall opportunities to inform
customers of the change.  I offered to help with that, but was brushed off.

They have no paid market manager. Because of this, they have a rule that the
board members have to attend EVERY market--they rely on the board members to
run the market....poorly.  It is never clear who is in charge and it often
seems like a free-for-all. Rules are not enforced equally or at all. 

One last pet peeve....their market guidelines have a list of objectives for
the market and not ONE single one of them is about providing a market for
the vendors to sell their product.  They list things like, "educating the
public about good nutrition," and "increase the availability of nutritious
foods for low income, disadvantaged populations specifically Women, Infants,
and Children Supplemental Food Program recipients, Food Stamp recipients,
and Elders", and "enhance the positive image of [our town] and the community
as a whole."  It would be one thing if this was an accidental oversight, but
this is exactly how the market behaves and sort of what I was getting at
when I sort of grumbled over the 501(c)3 status issue. 

Okay--so....terrible board in every sense of the word.  What can be done
about it? My choices seem to be:

1. Run for a seat on the board -- IF they even follow their own bylaws and
actually open a seat for election and not just re-appoint themselves.   I
believe one of their terms expires this year--maybe 2 of them.  But at least
one of them had a term that expired last year and they re-elected her for
another 3-year term.  I could run for a seat on the board, but it would mean
serving on the board with at least 2 of them and I would find it so
frustrating as to be unworkable, I'm afraid.  The last person who tried to
make change from within lasted about 3 months...and that was about 2 1/2
months longer than I could have, I think.  And I have two other big problems
with this solution: I can't commit to attending every market, as the bylaws
or guidelines currently require, and certainly can't commit to managing the
market as is currently required of the board AND we still have so much farm
work to do and I should really spend my energy there--where I am certain it
will be more pro
 ductive.

2. Stage a coup.  Run for a seat on the board and/or campaign for a complete
turnover of the board by calling all market members for whom I have contact
information (about half of them?) and letting them know how I think things
could be run better--what I could and would do and recruit people to run for
the other board seats. Work through the bylaws to remove other board members
if we can (re: non-compliance of bylaws).  The problem with this is that I'd
have to follow through. ;-)  :-)  See problems with #1.

3. Bide my time and do nothing....  This board can't last forever. They're
burning themselves out trying to do it all (but not succeeding and earning
lots of criticism along the way). It may take several years, but eventually
there will be all new board members that I could work with. My orchard trees
won't be producing significant fruit for a few years--I have some time that
I could wait until I need to get serious about working to solve some of
these problems.   BUT....if I do this, what will happen to the market in the
meantime?  The only thing I think this market is doing right is that it is a
producer-only market. The one person that I know that MAY be willing to step
up when they fall thinks differently from me on these issues and would be in
favor, I think, of allowing resellers.  (Who looks like the control freak
now? <g>)

4. Give up on this market and drive the hour+ into the bigger market.   I
don't have enough produce to sell at the large market yet and my plants
won't be anything unique in order to get me into that market just yet.  That
market is full and they aren't allowing new vendors at the moment.  When we
have fruit ready to sell, I think we WILL be able to get in because they
really NEED fruit there and they will make room for us (we have been told).
In the meantime, I'll have a few years where I'd like to get the bugs worked
out in this smaller market, though...  The problem with this solution is
that I moved out here to live out HERE.  I want this to be my home now and I
don't want to spend every weekend driving the hour+ into town at 4am.  

5. Skip the market theatrics altogether and shift to a total U-Pick
operation.  We're gearing up for this to be a part of our business
anyway....especially as we grow older.  But perhaps it makes sense to start
this way from the beginning.  I think since we have Buy Fresh Buy Local
here, which does a good job of publicizing U-Picks, that we could get the
publicity we need for customers. The problem with this solution is that I'm
such a "fixer" and I believe so strongly in the need for a good market here
in my community--for selfish reasons as well as for virtuous reasons. 

If you've read this far, thanks!   Any guidance or other thoughts on the
choices I've presented?  Any other suggestions?  Thoughts about how to
approach this?  

--Leslie





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