In this episode Rob and Carrie are chatting about why people actually go to Farmers Markets, is it to talk to the farmer? Is it because the products are fresher/safer/better for the environment? We touch on WIC being accepted and why Big Ag farmers and Farmer Market farmers don’t get along.
FEEDBACK REQUESTED: we want to know what your experience has been – do you attend Farmers Markets? And if so – why? Do you have a booth? If so – what are your experiences?
Comment below – let us know!
I live in New Mexico, my wife loves the farmer Market. She goes once a month because it’s a long drive for us.
I’ve gone with her many times and I don’t recall seeing many conversations between vendors and people buying goods.
Great episode, and good job on the pod cast.
I am a F M vendor . I feel many of your ideas on what it’s like at the market are off base. If you are interested in more information send me a email.
Hey guys! Another great podcast. Hubs and I are farmer’s market vendors/growers. Fresh produce in the winter- winter squash can be stored for a long time, just like potatoes, onions, carrots, and parsnips. They probably did not buy it from somewhere else. If they have good storage with proper humidity those root crops and squashes can last well into the spring.
Greens can be grown in hoophouse almost all winter as long as they have enough protection from the cold.
Organic- we are not! We use commericial fertilizers and use pesticides when needed. We’ve had people leave our booth because we told them this. Oh well. Hubby tries to educate them and sometimes it works.
We’ve had some vendors avoid us because we don’t grow “naturally” whatever that means. So stupid.
Consumers- it depends on which market we go to. Some people want to talk, some people just want their food. It varies.
As far as production farmers going to the markets- it’s tough. There’s too much work on the farm to sit all day at the market. There’s a couple of larger farms that do strawberries, or sweet corn. They hire kids or younger family members to sell at the markets.
First thing, I am enjoying this podcast. The concept of farmers and city people having an understanding of what happens in each of their worlds is important. secondly, I feel a connection with the farmer as I lived and went to school in the same town as the farmer and knew his father well. He was a good man!!
After we retired, we became market gardeners and are active in 2-3 farmers markets in our area. We take great pride in providing the freshest local produce to our customers. Comparing canned green beans to freshly harvested local green beans because of price? Yes you can buy canned veggies dirt cheap. They are machine harvested, loaded with sodium and cooked to a point a lot of the nutrition is lost. We sell green beans from mid June till late October and we can tell our customers ways to preserve ttheir veggies to have the just harvested taste all winter. Last night we had corn on the cob from last summers harvest that tasted like it was just harvested. Which leads to a point that lack of communication between the farmer and the customer. We are in active conversation with the customers for the whole time the market is going on. We want the customers to know about us, our farm, and the products they are buying. We share preperation tips and recipes on products. We talk about our growing practices. If I was on the customer side, and the farmer can’t answer questions about their produce, I would walk on to the next booth or go to the grocery store. It is also important to talk to customers about organic and GMO. both are sadly misunderstood. Our markets are not as large as the ones in Milwaukee and we don’t have Bloody Marys available YET!!!! but we offer to the consumer a fun and entetaing way to buy the best available produce for their families.
I think farmer bashing is area specific. Our town has a small market may-October, just 30-40 vendors. But our community is mostly rural and many folks have direct ties to farm families. But they’re raising field corn and soybeans, not fruits and veggies. But the “farmer hate” is pretty rare around here. Now, go to a Chicago suburb, full of mommy-blogger yuppie townies, and my go-to move would “earth-rape free tomatoes” and “emotionally supported chicken eggs”.
I go occasionally just to look around, but I raise my own garden, so it’s rare I need much local produce. Here anyway, I think that’s the appeal. That it’s local. That even if it wasn’t raised by their own hand, it’s raised by someone they know.
I dont think the organic fad is going anywhere, but I think people are starting to turn at least some of their attention to the locavore movement. Fresher, local food that people feel like they have more control over. That’s why I garden. That’s why I raise chickens, and this year feed out our own hogs. I buy freezer beef from folks that live two miles over. I see the calves grow. Thats appealing to me.
My opinion could very well be scewed because of being the chairman of the farmers market committee. Nothing I care to repeat
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