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Subject: Market Farming

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: KAKerby AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] other food marketing methods
  • Date: Fri, 4 May 2012 00:04:11 -0400 (EDT)

As followup to my previous email, here are the rest of the terms we were discussing on the other list, and a suggested definition for each.  Again, I welcome folks to make comments/suggestions for improvement.
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
Ruminations - essays on the farming life at frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html
 
Food Hub
A food hub is a relatively new concept in the food access arena.  A hub is any formal or informal method, either physical or electronic, which allows farmers to connect with buyers.  Many food hubs are being arranged by nonprofit groups and local agencies, to make those local and regional connections easier.  One unique aspect of many food hubs is the participation of buyer agencies which farmers might not otherwise have access to, such as schools, hospitals, restaurants, prisons and other business or government buyer entities.  The food hub may be as simple as an email list or website where growers and buyers can post what they have available and/or what they need.  It can be as involved as a weekly marketplace attended by multiple buyers and vendors, or a seasonal conference where buyers and/or farmers attend workshops learning about the practices, opportunities and challenges faced by each party, as well as government regulations and/or programs which impact those transactions.
 

Farmers Market
A farmers’ market has once again become a relatively common event in countless neighborhoods across the country.  But some consumers are still not sure what will and will not be available at such markets.  Grocery stores are also opening their own “farmers market” sections which can confuse the situation even further.  While any given farmer’s market will be a unique entity, most well-respected  farmers markets share most of the following criteria:
1)  The market features a weekly gathering of multiple vendors at the same time and place each week.  Most markets operate during the growing season, but some run all year.  A few areas are experimenting with dedicated “winter markets” to supplement growing season markets.
2)  Many markets stipulate that each vendor grow or make all or at least a majority of their products.  Very few markets openly invite resellers, but some markets are less diligent about checking for resellers than others.  Those markets which have established themselves as among “the best of the best” regionally and nationally are very strict in regards to ensuring their vendors actually grow or make everything they sell.
3)  Many farmers markets feature more than one vendor selling any given type of product - produce, meats, wines, honey, eggs, etc - but most markets will put a cap on how many vendors can sell any given type of product.  This balance helps provide variety while also ensuring that shoppers have a choice for any given product. 
4)  Many markets will also set informal minimum pricing standards, such that one vendor cannot come in with a glut of product, and undersell other vendors with the same product.
5)  Many vendors selling at market will harvest their produce mere hours prior to market, to help ensure absolute freshness.  Other products, such as meats, cheeses, honey and canned products, will have been harvested, formed, and/or bottled some weeks prior, depending on the product.
6)  Market vendor booths may be manned either by the farmer, or a farmer’s employee.  While many farmers feel compelled to man the booth to ensure that customers have access to the actual grower, not all farmers can cover the booth and their daily farming activities at the same time.  So some farmers will hire staff specifically to man the market booth.  If an employee is manning the booth, that employee often has a fair amount of knowledge about the operation of the farm in question. 
 

Food Delivery Service
Food delivery services can be a part of many different types of food businesses.  Such a delivery service can be a courtesy service offered by individual farms, a core attribute of a food cooperative or food hub, or a profit-making service offered by regular grocery stores, butchers, bakeriers or creameries.  There is enough variety amongst delivery services around the country that no hard-and-fast rules or principles can be used to describe them.
 

Food Cooperatives, buying clubs and Distributors
Food buying clubs, food cooperatives and food distributorships are three more buying options, but with a great deal of variety between them.  A buying club can be a single individual or entity working as a liaison between farmers and buyers, with the goal of improving access and/or holding costs down by buying in bulk.  The organizer often works as a volunteer, not keeping any portion of a transaction.  Food cooperatives may be profit or non-profit associations between buyers and/or growers, again for the purpose of either improving access to products or markets, and/or holding prices down by buying in bulk.  Non-profit co-ops will keep a portion of each sale, and fold that back into the cooperative to expand the co-op’s offerings or hold prices down.  Or, the co-op may be a for-profit business, but profits would be split amongst members in the form of dividends.  Distributorships are harder to define, but are more typically a for-profit operation where the organizing individual or entity keeps a certain percentage of each transaction, simply for the goal of making profit.  All of these buying options feature a certain amount of separation between the farmer and the buyer, such that the former and latter may never actually meet or even be aware of each other’s identity.  In that sense, many cooperatives, buying clubs and distributorships are little more than wholesalers.
 
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