Market stalls filled with rows of brightly coloured vegetables and baskets of perfectly ripe, deliciously scented fruit, lovingly tended by a crinkly-faced farmer or his rosy-cheeked wife.
It’s a vision of Arcadian splendour from a simpler time; it is the way people shop in nursery rhymes and historic novels. It’s a very long way from slinging a bag of pre-washed lettuce leaves into a trolley at a fluorescent-lit supermarket.
But increasingly, it’s also the way many of us want to shop now. The past 10 years have seen a massive revival in farmers’ markets, where growers sell their own produce direct to consumers, reviving an interest in locally grown produce and breathing new life into local economies and communities.
The United States’ Agricultural Marketing Service estimates there are around 4400 operating farmers’ markets in the country. In the UK, the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association (FARMA) has certified around 550 markets since it started in 1997.
Rising stocks: Farmers' markets are enjoying a revival. Picture: ellievanhoutte
A recent UK survey showed 30 per cent of people had been to a farmers’ market in the past 12 months and 30 per cent had been to a farm shop, but 88 per cent would like to buy direct from farmers.
Rita Exner, association secretary of FARMA, says UK farmers’ markets are worth £220million a year. Even in straitened economic times there is no sign of people wanting to depart from the principle of getting the freshest, best local food available to them at farmers’ markets.
“People are fed up with being processed through a supermarket and love buying direct from the producer,” Rita says. “They can talk and get answers to questions about the food they are about to buy. It’s a very sociable experience, too.”
Stacy Miller, the executive secretary from the Farmers Market Coalition in the US, agrees. She says surveys of market customers reveal they are most attracted by the freshness and appearance of the produce, the variety of goods available and the atmosphere of the market.
Many consumers also say they are attracted by the idea of buying organic produce. Rita says most farmers’ markets have about 10 per cent organic produce and there is one small wholly organic farmers’ market in London. “But they are mostly small farms and they take more care not to use chemicals indiscriminately,” she says. Stacy says although many American producers are not actually certified organic, they use organic practices.
“If the producer is right there, you can ask questions. A sticker or a label is not as important as being able to ask the grower about how something was grown,” she says.
People are increasingly concerned about food safety, not just in relation to chemicals but also recent outbreaks of E.coli. “If you buy a bag of spinach leaves at a supermarket you just have to trust that someone has looked at it and it is in a good state but here, there is a relationship of trust that has been built up,” she argues. “You can ask, and if you do get sick, well you have accountability – you have their phone number, you can ask questions. How do you get that from a grocery store?”
While FARMA provides a certification process for farmers’ markets in the UK, in the US there is no nationwide certification process but many states have their own accreditation processes that take into account local demands and conditions.
In general, the aims of all farmers’ markets are similar – to bring farmers, growers or producers from a local area together to sell their own produce which has been grown, reared, caught or made by the stallholder. This means consumers get the freshest, most local produce possible, supporting the local community and economy and reducing “food miles”.
Rita Exner says there is a very real interest from consumers in trying to spend their money in a way that benefits the local community. “They are identifying with people who have businesses in their area,” she says.
But, as Stacy Miller, points out, farmers’ markets also provide a “self-interest entry point” for just about anybody. “There is farmland preservation, rural entrepreneurism, small business development as well as community development, nutrition, general health and wellbeing and social capital. Then there is economic development from the economic multipliers – there’s a lot going on there.”
One immediate benefit was making consumers more aware of the value of good quality produce. “They are bringing people back to the notion that there is a whole world of flavours that don’t exist when something has been harvested long ago and stored on a truck,” Stacy says.
Farmers’ markets also have a role to play in educating people about what’s in season, and how to prepare it. “They remind people what a real version (of a fruit or vegetable in season) tastes like or why there are no lettuces in the middle of summer because it is too hot to grow them in the sun. It is neat, people get into the flow of things,” Stacy says.
And Rita says when people do buy in season, they get a more varied diet. “They buy what’s available and in season instead of the same things year round.”
In the UK and Europe there is a noticeably growing interest among consumers in diet and health and a desire to be reassured that what they are eating is really good. There is also increasing scepticism about so-called “local” food in supermarkets.
“It may have been harvested 20 or 50 miles away but by the time it has been to a packing plant 150 miles away, it has done a round trip of several hundred miles,” Rita says.
But consumers should not necessarily expect goods to be cheaper at farmers’ markets. While fruit and vegetables in season are often inexpensive, Rita says meat is not always as cheap as supermarkets. “But it’s better quality and you know it has lived decently, it has lived a good life,” she says.
Stacy says as long as fuel costs in the US are subsidised, the true cost of transporting and packaging food will not be reflected in the supermarket price. When it is, locally-grown product will be a good economic alternative, she says.
“But there are costs associated with freshness. There is a risk of loss when products are so ripe and fresh and farmers are paying people decent wages,” she says. “It goes back to quality, the cost may be higher but the value is exponentially higher.”
