We have 2 farmers markets in Murfreesboro TN.
The real farmers market is located west side of town in the agriculture center it is open Tues & Fri. Inspectors go to local farms to make sure farmers grow what they sell at the farmers market and make sure they don't spray with toxic poison. Farmers sell only what is in season. Korean people sell items no one else sells any where in town. You don't find picture perfect identical size tomatoes & bell peppers here.
The other FAKE farmers market is located on the town public square. About 85% of the sellers buy produce from Palmer wholesale then resell it at the farmers market. This fake farmers market is actually more popular than the real farmers market maybe it is because it is located in center of town, is it 14 miles across town. Maybe is it more popular because it is Saturday and most people are off work. Tomatoes & bell peppers are picture perfect all identical sizes and empty Palmer wholesale boxes under the tables. If it cost $2 at Walmart it will cost $3 at this farmers market. Lots of out of season produce for sale here.
Palmer wholesale sells to all the Grocery stores in town. Most of their produce is trucked in from out of state.
Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis, and larger towns they have problems with resellers that buy out of state produce to resell at farmers market like it was local home grown. Smaller farm towns do not have reseller problems at there local farmers market. Most people in the small towns know everyone else in the town, new sellers will be a red flag right away.
Here is a video about sellers that buy produce to resell at local farmers markets.
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There was a scandal reported on recently about a guy in the midwest who was selling conventional produce as organic for over a decade and making millions of dollars.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021 ... food-fraud
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021 ... food-fraud
Most non-gardeners in urban areas have no idea what "real" produce is. We tried to give our excess produce to local retirement homes and after a year or so the homes were required to refuse our fresh produce because the State of Nebraska has stringent laws requiring produce be acquired from a liscenced produce vendor. All their fruits and vegetables were being imported from Mexico and Chile. Several residents asked whatever happened to the good stuff. I don't know what the answer was. I do know family members were sneaking in food to some of the old folks.
I don't grow organic but use organic methods as much as possible and never sell anything but give away what we can't use. I laugh when I see repackaged produce being sold at Farmers Markets even in the rural areas. So far as I know our area does not have inspectors. It would be nice to have some truth in advertising regulations.
I don't grow organic but use organic methods as much as possible and never sell anything but give away what we can't use. I laugh when I see repackaged produce being sold at Farmers Markets even in the rural areas. So far as I know our area does not have inspectors. It would be nice to have some truth in advertising regulations.
Gary, I'm curious if your two markets in town have crafters. Are there people selling something other than food in both, one or the other?
Markets are often promoted by the business community - booster(ism). They want lively areas where the other businesses can draw off some of the crowd. It's not surprising ... they do have to be careful not to upset the soopermarket owners
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In small, rural areas, reselling may not be much of a problem but customers may be limited. Direct marketing farmers are often dependent on each other to draw customers since it is seldom possible for them to have the broad selection of produce that "modern" consumers are hoping to bring home to their families. Of course, that's the same reason the boosters want the reseller.
Steve
Markets are often promoted by the business community - booster(ism). They want lively areas where the other businesses can draw off some of the crowd. It's not surprising ... they do have to be careful not to upset the soopermarket owners
.In small, rural areas, reselling may not be much of a problem but customers may be limited. Direct marketing farmers are often dependent on each other to draw customers since it is seldom possible for them to have the broad selection of produce that "modern" consumers are hoping to bring home to their families. Of course, that's the same reason the boosters want the reseller.
Steve
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Gary350
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There are no crafters at the real agriculture center farmers market, it is, vegetables, meat, live plants, cut flowers, sometimes eggs, honey. Time is 7 am to 12 noon, people stop coming at 12 noon, vender are gone in 30 minutes.digitS' wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 3:38 pmGary, I'm curious if your two markets in town have crafters. Are there people selling something other than food in both, one or the other?
Markets are often promoted by the business community - booster(ism). They want lively areas where the other businesses can draw off some of the crowd. It's not surprising ... they do have to be careful not to upset the soopermarket owners
In small, rural areas, reselling may not be much of a problem but customers may be limited. Direct marketing farmers are often dependent on each other to draw customers since it is seldom possible for them to have the broad selection of produce that "modern" consumers are hoping to bring home to their families. Of course, that's the same reason the boosters want the reseller.
Steve
Farmers market on the square sometimes has a few crafters. Homemade jewelry. There is homemade bread & homemade Jam & jelly & pickles. There are tables with free information about groups and events in town. Hot dogs & hamburgers, ice cream, candy. Homemade sauces in mason jars. Sometimes the popcorn man & donut man are there, $8 for a dozen donuts instead of $4 at the bakery. Public square is a big friendly gathering where people go to look for friends they have not seen since last weekend. Lots of vegetable from Palmer Wholes. There are a few farmers there with a truck load of, corn & tomatoes. I use go to the square to look for friends too but almost never buy anything. It is so crowded it is standing room only and lines are very long & slow. We can not park and walk 2 or 3 blocks anymore we can't walk that far without taking folding chairs to set an rest along the way. Time is suppose to be 7am to 12 noon but once they start selling food people eat lunch and people are still there at 2:30 pm to 3 pm.
Public square use to be mom & pop businesses they all died, now the square is, real estate offices, Attorneys, & several high priced restaurants where rich people eat & talk business.
It sounds like the town square would be an ideal place for a REAL farmers' market. Maybe a couple of year-round hamburger, bakeries, icecream, and candy businesses would be happy to open in the buildings surrounding the square if the food trucks didn't take all of their business on Saturday, thru 6 months of the year.
Happy to see crafters, if they don't take too much market control - farmers already have it tough enuf. I don't have anything against food trucks (as long as they are properly regulated) but those folks might appreciate a 6 or 7 day permanent location if the business district would free up a little real estate.
The produce resellers -- let me tell you what some wholesale outfits do. They may load a truck for the market and have the guy vending pay for only what is sold. He just carries it back in the afternoon and returns it to cold storage. What stops a wholesaler from simply sending an employee to the market?
The farmer is competing with the supermarkets, of course. In the worst case scenario, the farmer is competing with the wholesaler. It is somewhat surprising that ANY farmers show up at a market with resellers. IMO
Steve
Happy to see crafters, if they don't take too much market control - farmers already have it tough enuf. I don't have anything against food trucks (as long as they are properly regulated) but those folks might appreciate a 6 or 7 day permanent location if the business district would free up a little real estate.
The produce resellers -- let me tell you what some wholesale outfits do.
They may load a truck for the market and have the guy vending pay for only what is sold. He just carries it back in the afternoon and returns it to cold storage. What stops a wholesaler from simply sending an employee to the market?The farmer is competing with the supermarkets, of course. In the worst case scenario, the farmer is competing with the wholesaler. It is somewhat surprising that ANY farmers show up at a market with resellers. IMO
Steve
Local farmers markets here are either run by the city as a place for local farmers to sell mostly their off grade produce that they cannot sell to regular markets and other private markets that usually require vendors to be members of the farm bureau so not anyone can sell there.
The farm community is a small one, so it is hard for anyone to get in without being vetted. That being said, it is known that at the farm market and even at the swap meet that a lot of vendors buy from each other and resell produce. There are vendors at the swap meet who I know buy their produce from truck farms and resell it. I even overheard some of the vendors say they know some people who were buying their produce from Costco and reselling it. Some of the farm vendors do bring in produce from the mainland and sell it at the farm markets. Those I can tell because they are typically not crops that can be grown here like celery and apples.
I know the markets have rules and they have kicked out vendors who break the rules. The farms that participate and belong to the farm bureau must be in compliance with State board of Health requirements. Some farms have problems with that because they do not have certified packing facilities. One family farm was recently in the news because they had leased a building that they were going to turn into a processing facility so they would not be restricted as to where they could sell their produce.
The really authentic farm stands are the ones when you drive out into the country and see the stands that are outside the farms. Those stands are only open when the farm has anything to sell.
Many people who raise produce in on their property sell their fruit, vegetables , and ornamentals directly to restaurants. florists, and stores. People will buy the fruit from homeowner's trees. The homeowner can't even get any fruit for themselves and the buyers will come and pick the fruit when it is ripe. People sell their lychee and mango crops this way.
Unfortunately agricultural theft is rampant and it is not uncommon to find people stealing fruit and vegetables from farms, community gardens, and homes and selling them at the swap meet on the weekends. Agricultural theft is low priority for law enforcement and it is hard to prove ownership of produce in the market or prove the seller is also the thief as there are usually no witnesses. Even when there are witnesses and the police are called, the police will ask if it is your fruit, and if it is not, they just tell you to have the owner file a report.
There aren't that many vendors with organic produce at the farmer's market. Organic does not mean that it is better and it is easy to cheat. My uncle used to help out with the farmer's market in the small town where he lived. He had a home garden and he grew some nice cucumbers. One of the sellers offered to buy his cucumbers and when my uncle told him they were not organic, the vendor said it did not matter. The only thing that is strict that the farmer's have to comply with is to separate the GMO produce, mainly papaya from the non-gmo. They don't have to be labeled GMO but the varieties have to be sold in separate containers. This does not mean that people will not pick up a papaya from one bin and leave it in another. You would be surprised at some consumers who say they don't like GMO but buy Rainbow papaya. Rainbow papaya are GMO, but they are only label papayas by the varietal name.
Most of the farmers markets here are not strictly for farm produce. There are value added products like taro chips, Kona coffee, bakery products, and about 25% of the vendors are food vendors. I went to one week day market at the Tech park to check it out. There were two produce vendors the rest were food trucks. They catered mainly to the employees working in the businesses in the tech park as a place nearby to go for lunch.
The farm market can cost more than buying produce from the store. 90% of our food, including produce and eggs, come from the mainland. Locally grown produce costs more and isn't always as nice looking, but It is fresher than what is available at the stores. The thing with local produce is that the farmers often sell the same things so when eggplant is in season, everybody has eggplant. The exception would be things like papaya, most of which is locally grown and sold. There are farms big enough to supply markets with lettuce, tomatoes, Molokai sweet potatoes, Maui onions, and some of the tropical vegetables.
When you go to a farmer's market you do have to know what the price is in the stores and it pays to carry a fish scale with you since you don't know the price per pound since produce is usually sold by the bag. Vendors who do have scales do have to have their scales certified but as anyone knows, if you keep moving scales around in and out of trucks every day or week, the scales do go off calibration.
I do like to shop at farmer's markets and there is one on Sunday's just up the street at the High School near me. Other's are farther away (16-20 miles). The People's market run by the city is a roving market that only opens for one hour then moves to another location. I buy some produce, bread, orchids, and sometimes a plate lunch to go.
The farm community is a small one, so it is hard for anyone to get in without being vetted. That being said, it is known that at the farm market and even at the swap meet that a lot of vendors buy from each other and resell produce. There are vendors at the swap meet who I know buy their produce from truck farms and resell it. I even overheard some of the vendors say they know some people who were buying their produce from Costco and reselling it. Some of the farm vendors do bring in produce from the mainland and sell it at the farm markets. Those I can tell because they are typically not crops that can be grown here like celery and apples.
I know the markets have rules and they have kicked out vendors who break the rules. The farms that participate and belong to the farm bureau must be in compliance with State board of Health requirements. Some farms have problems with that because they do not have certified packing facilities. One family farm was recently in the news because they had leased a building that they were going to turn into a processing facility so they would not be restricted as to where they could sell their produce.
The really authentic farm stands are the ones when you drive out into the country and see the stands that are outside the farms. Those stands are only open when the farm has anything to sell.
Many people who raise produce in on their property sell their fruit, vegetables , and ornamentals directly to restaurants. florists, and stores. People will buy the fruit from homeowner's trees. The homeowner can't even get any fruit for themselves and the buyers will come and pick the fruit when it is ripe. People sell their lychee and mango crops this way.
Unfortunately agricultural theft is rampant and it is not uncommon to find people stealing fruit and vegetables from farms, community gardens, and homes and selling them at the swap meet on the weekends. Agricultural theft is low priority for law enforcement and it is hard to prove ownership of produce in the market or prove the seller is also the thief as there are usually no witnesses. Even when there are witnesses and the police are called, the police will ask if it is your fruit, and if it is not, they just tell you to have the owner file a report.
There aren't that many vendors with organic produce at the farmer's market. Organic does not mean that it is better and it is easy to cheat. My uncle used to help out with the farmer's market in the small town where he lived. He had a home garden and he grew some nice cucumbers. One of the sellers offered to buy his cucumbers and when my uncle told him they were not organic, the vendor said it did not matter. The only thing that is strict that the farmer's have to comply with is to separate the GMO produce, mainly papaya from the non-gmo. They don't have to be labeled GMO but the varieties have to be sold in separate containers. This does not mean that people will not pick up a papaya from one bin and leave it in another. You would be surprised at some consumers who say they don't like GMO but buy Rainbow papaya. Rainbow papaya are GMO, but they are only label papayas by the varietal name.
Most of the farmers markets here are not strictly for farm produce. There are value added products like taro chips, Kona coffee, bakery products, and about 25% of the vendors are food vendors. I went to one week day market at the Tech park to check it out. There were two produce vendors the rest were food trucks. They catered mainly to the employees working in the businesses in the tech park as a place nearby to go for lunch.
The farm market can cost more than buying produce from the store. 90% of our food, including produce and eggs, come from the mainland. Locally grown produce costs more and isn't always as nice looking, but It is fresher than what is available at the stores. The thing with local produce is that the farmers often sell the same things so when eggplant is in season, everybody has eggplant. The exception would be things like papaya, most of which is locally grown and sold. There are farms big enough to supply markets with lettuce, tomatoes, Molokai sweet potatoes, Maui onions, and some of the tropical vegetables.
When you go to a farmer's market you do have to know what the price is in the stores and it pays to carry a fish scale with you since you don't know the price per pound since produce is usually sold by the bag. Vendors who do have scales do have to have their scales certified but as anyone knows, if you keep moving scales around in and out of trucks every day or week, the scales do go off calibration.
I do like to shop at farmer's markets and there is one on Sunday's just up the street at the High School near me. Other's are farther away (16-20 miles). The People's market run by the city is a roving market that only opens for one hour then moves to another location. I buy some produce, bread, orchids, and sometimes a plate lunch to go.
One hour markets? That sounds like fun 
. No time to set up much of a display - they must be like the British "boot fair" with people selling out of the boot of their car.
A problem with the flea market for farmers is, first of all, it doesn't seem a very good environment for displaying fresh food. Second, it's usually an "anything goes" kinda place. Finally, the same problem as crafters with too much control. Eight hours? Longer? Hot days, produce is flat on the table after a few hours! The crafters don't want to go home after just a few hours but the farmers are often driving from out in the countryside.
When I was selling at the farmers' market, twice there were visits from board members to see the gardens. There were a good number of choices in our booth and it would make one wonder if we really had that much variety growing. One thing that helped with is that if something didn't sell well, there were other choices. Depth to the Bench, Eggs not all in one basket ... mixing my metaphors. Besides, these veggies were an important part of our diet.
Government inspections. We had one guy who was told by a health department official to shut down. He was from another county and of a libertarian persuasion and refused. She told him that if he didn't, the market would be closed. He never came back - tough beans.
Steve
. No time to set up much of a display - they must be like the British "boot fair" with people selling out of the boot of their car.A problem with the flea market for farmers is, first of all, it doesn't seem a very good environment for displaying fresh food. Second, it's usually an "anything goes" kinda place. Finally, the same problem as crafters with too much control. Eight hours? Longer? Hot days, produce is flat on the table after a few hours! The crafters don't want to go home after just a few hours but the farmers are often driving from out in the countryside.
When I was selling at the farmers' market, twice there were visits from board members to see the gardens. There were a good number of choices in our booth and it would make one wonder if we really had that much variety growing. One thing that helped with is that if something didn't sell well, there were other choices. Depth to the Bench, Eggs not all in one basket ... mixing my metaphors. Besides, these veggies were an important part of our diet.
Government inspections. We had one guy who was told by a health department official to shut down. He was from another county and of a libertarian persuasion and refused. She told him that if he didn't, the market would be closed. He never came back - tough beans. SteveExactly. The one hour markets there is no set up the vendors usually just have a table and maybe a scale or prices are marked on the fruit like squash, or bagged. They literally sell off the backs of the trucks. People from the surrounding community line up 30 minutes in advance and no one is allowed to sell anything until the horn sounds. Vending must stop when the horn sounds again. The vendors pack up and move on to the next site which is usually a city park in a nearby neighborhood. The People's Open Market is a program run by the city. It was closed because of covid but has since reopened. Prices at this market are usually lower than at other farm markets and that was the intent. To help farmers sell their off grade and surplus produce at below market prices. Also to bring fresh produce and vegetables directly to communities at a lower cost. Most of the communities being served are in areas where there are many immigrants and rental units. Not all of them are like that though. The one in my neighborhood was requested by the community and the park that it is located at is not the closest to the rental units, but it had easy access to the main roads while still not being on a main road and there is enough street parking. This is a bedroom community and it really is hard to go anywhere here, even shopping, without a car. The park is centrally located so it may take a while but since the town is 3 miles wide and 1 mile long, it is still walk able. The vendors have a lot of rules to follow but the fees are much less than they would have to pay at other markets.
https://www.honolulu.gov/parks/program/ ... ml#history
https://www.honolulu.gov/parks/program/ ... ml#history
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TomatoNut95
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I've seen some huge tomatoes sold by well known farmers around here and I question if they actually grew them or not. Best thing to do is to question the seller. If they can't tell you the name of the variety or what it taste like and all that, then somethings wrong. If I were selling produce I would want to have answers and information to provide to my customers should they have questions. I mean I'm sure there's a lot of people that probably wouldn't care what it's called or anything they just view it as farm fresh stuff and grab it up without question. But still, an honest and serious produce seller should be able to provide confident answers to customer's questions and not shrug and go, "I don't know, it's just a (whatever)". I guess if they answer you that way, you should ask, "where'd you buy these wholesale then?" 
Many sellers do sell their own produce. Some have their own produce but also buy from others. Others pretty much buy from truck farmers and resell. I have even seen some wholesale trucks from small companies they probably sell the extra produce they could not sell to markets. Some farmers don't always go to the market themselves, they hire people or have family members to run the market especially if they have several venues in a week. It would take too much of their time to spend it all at the market. Some of the workers who actually grow the produce do know the product, but they usually are not the ones selling at the market.
My friends have a small 1 acre farm. He still has a job, but I think he has not been working much because of covid. My other friend partners with him and she has sublet some space at the farm. She spends most days working on her plants and weeding. He works alone and he does not have a lot of equipment, so it is like a big back yard farm on the mainland. He has a few fruit trees and some rows of crops and some land that is still undeveloped. He grows organically. He makes his own compost. Not only because it is organic, but because it is practical. Otherwise, he would have a lot of farm waste to get rid of. My other friend he partners with takes care of marketing and finding buyers. He sells mostly CSA boxes and she takes care of deliveries. Land is expensive here. I think he pays $200 a month for the lease and extra for water.
There is an agricultural park within my community and they do sell produce and they also have CSA boxes. Once in a while I will go there (2 miles away), but I have to split the lettuce because I can't really eat half a pound of lettuce in a short time. They also sell tilapia and catfish, I have to bring a bucket or cooler and ice because they are only allowed to sell live fish. There is also an egg farm in Wahiawa (4 miles away) that sometimes has produce as well. The produce there is actually raised by the high school students and the farm does not keep the money. They just provide them a place to market their produce. The eggs there cost more than at Costco or the stores, but at least I know they are fresh, especially if I go on Wednesdays. The farm is closed on Sunday, so there may be some day old eggs on Monday morning. That farm sells most of their eggs locally to the businesses in the neighborhood. For the most part, the businesses pick it up themselves. When they cull chickens, they sell the chickens too, and chicken manure. If you really want to get your products direct from the growers, then buying directly from the farms is one way to do it especially if the farms are close to you. During covid, the line at the farm has been pretty long and they have been selling out before noon. If you know where to look, there are options to buy direct.
My friends have a small 1 acre farm. He still has a job, but I think he has not been working much because of covid. My other friend partners with him and she has sublet some space at the farm. She spends most days working on her plants and weeding. He works alone and he does not have a lot of equipment, so it is like a big back yard farm on the mainland. He has a few fruit trees and some rows of crops and some land that is still undeveloped. He grows organically. He makes his own compost. Not only because it is organic, but because it is practical. Otherwise, he would have a lot of farm waste to get rid of. My other friend he partners with takes care of marketing and finding buyers. He sells mostly CSA boxes and she takes care of deliveries. Land is expensive here. I think he pays $200 a month for the lease and extra for water.
There is an agricultural park within my community and they do sell produce and they also have CSA boxes. Once in a while I will go there (2 miles away), but I have to split the lettuce because I can't really eat half a pound of lettuce in a short time. They also sell tilapia and catfish, I have to bring a bucket or cooler and ice because they are only allowed to sell live fish. There is also an egg farm in Wahiawa (4 miles away) that sometimes has produce as well. The produce there is actually raised by the high school students and the farm does not keep the money. They just provide them a place to market their produce. The eggs there cost more than at Costco or the stores, but at least I know they are fresh, especially if I go on Wednesdays. The farm is closed on Sunday, so there may be some day old eggs on Monday morning. That farm sells most of their eggs locally to the businesses in the neighborhood. For the most part, the businesses pick it up themselves. When they cull chickens, they sell the chickens too, and chicken manure. If you really want to get your products direct from the growers, then buying directly from the farms is one way to do it especially if the farms are close to you. During covid, the line at the farm has been pretty long and they have been selling out before noon. If you know where to look, there are options to buy direct.
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Gary350
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When I was 8 years old summer of 1958 my grandfather had a market in town he operated on Saturday only and he also worked a full time job during the week. He had a 40 acre farm 8 miles from town, his garden was about 2 acres. Grandmother had, 2 milk cows, 100 chickens, 1 cherry tree, 2 peach trees, grapes & Rhubarb. During the week she sold milk & eggs at the house people would call by phone first then come get what they wanted. On Saturday we sold garden vegetables in town. Grandfathers market was just a roof held up by 6 tall fence posts with several tables. When something was in season we took it to town and sold it every Saturday. I remember, Rhubarb, tomatoes, radishes, green beans, squash, were the early crops then corn, potatoes & melons. One time we had 200 watermelons they sold quick. A week later we had 250 cantaloupe they were gone quick too. Grandmother had, eggs, cucumbers, butter, homemade bread, bread & butter pickles, jelly, jam, blackberries, cherries, peaches, grapes, strawberries, to sell. Grandfather grew corn in patches planted 1 week apart so we had corn to sell every week for about 6 weeks. If we could not grow it or make it we had nothing to sell. Fairfield IL was 6000 population then.
When I moved to TN 1976 farmers market started in an empty gravel parking lot at an abandon factory building with 6 farmers selling what they grew. Customers started showing up and farmers market grew larger. At first there was 6 sellers then 3 years later there were 45 sellers. Town population was 40,000. then. Farmers market kept getting larger they moved to a larger gravel parking lot 3 blocks away so there was room for about 75 sellers & 200 customers. This was a free for all farmers market with local farmers only. Then the city got involved they tried to get the farmers market to move to the public square but not many people moved there it was only 8 blocks away. Then the city built the agriculture center a large building 7 miles away west side of town with about 60 garage doors for farmers to back their trucks up to the doors and be in business in 5 minutes. This was slow to take off, it took 2 years to catch on. I love to go the real farmers market and talk to people. I sometimes buy a few things I can't grow or don't want to grow. Most people have the same things to sell at the same time everyone has tomatoes get ripe about the same time. Everyone has, beans, corn, potatoes, squash, melons, peppers, okra, cucumbers, get ripe about the same time. Some farmers have big green houses they have crops get ripe a few weeks sooner than other farmers often have onions no one else has. You don't get to sell at this farmers market until inspectors come inspect your home garden to make sure your growing what you sell and your not spraying toxic chemicals on the vegetables.
Farmers market on the square you find people selling things out of season like melons & corn in May.
We were at Acadia National Park in Maine a few years ago we found a very nice good size Farmers Market in town. There was vegetables, plants, food, crafts. There was a woman selling homemade cake donuts we bought some. Her story was interesting, she made 4 dozen donuts just to see if they will sell & sold out in 1 hour so the next week she made 100 donuts and sold out. Next 200, then 400 donuts and sold out. She had 4 kinds, plain cake, powder sugar coated, cinnamon sugar coated, chocolate coated. Wow donuts were good large 4" diameter $1 each. I probably still have pictures on the old computer.
Farmers Markets in Arizona are not farmers markets they are all craft fairs. There are no vegetable for sale no one in AZ knows how to grow vegetables in 115° hot summer weather. My best AZ garden was planted in Nov..
When we use to vacation and travel to all the National Parks we could see every summer we use to look for farmers markets on the weekends. We are staying close to home most of the time these days.
When I moved to TN 1976 farmers market started in an empty gravel parking lot at an abandon factory building with 6 farmers selling what they grew. Customers started showing up and farmers market grew larger. At first there was 6 sellers then 3 years later there were 45 sellers. Town population was 40,000. then. Farmers market kept getting larger they moved to a larger gravel parking lot 3 blocks away so there was room for about 75 sellers & 200 customers. This was a free for all farmers market with local farmers only. Then the city got involved they tried to get the farmers market to move to the public square but not many people moved there it was only 8 blocks away. Then the city built the agriculture center a large building 7 miles away west side of town with about 60 garage doors for farmers to back their trucks up to the doors and be in business in 5 minutes. This was slow to take off, it took 2 years to catch on. I love to go the real farmers market and talk to people. I sometimes buy a few things I can't grow or don't want to grow. Most people have the same things to sell at the same time everyone has tomatoes get ripe about the same time. Everyone has, beans, corn, potatoes, squash, melons, peppers, okra, cucumbers, get ripe about the same time. Some farmers have big green houses they have crops get ripe a few weeks sooner than other farmers often have onions no one else has. You don't get to sell at this farmers market until inspectors come inspect your home garden to make sure your growing what you sell and your not spraying toxic chemicals on the vegetables.
Farmers market on the square you find people selling things out of season like melons & corn in May.
We were at Acadia National Park in Maine a few years ago we found a very nice good size Farmers Market in town. There was vegetables, plants, food, crafts. There was a woman selling homemade cake donuts we bought some. Her story was interesting, she made 4 dozen donuts just to see if they will sell & sold out in 1 hour so the next week she made 100 donuts and sold out. Next 200, then 400 donuts and sold out. She had 4 kinds, plain cake, powder sugar coated, cinnamon sugar coated, chocolate coated. Wow donuts were good large 4" diameter $1 each. I probably still have pictures on the old computer.
Farmers Markets in Arizona are not farmers markets they are all craft fairs. There are no vegetable for sale no one in AZ knows how to grow vegetables in 115° hot summer weather. My best AZ garden was planted in Nov..
When we use to vacation and travel to all the National Parks we could see every summer we use to look for farmers markets on the weekends. We are staying close to home most of the time these days.
Last edited by Gary350 on Wed Dec 08, 2021 4:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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I live in a small village/town that was founded nearly 400 years ago. Our farmers market is about five people selling their home grown produce like tomatoes, garlic, rosemary plants, basil and shiitake mushrooms.
There are many farm stands in the area that we patronize as well. This year was rough though because there was too much rain.
I spoke with a local farmer and he said the rains delayed the growing season and made it shorter.
There are many farm stands in the area that we patronize as well. This year was rough though because there was too much rain.
I spoke with a local farmer and he said the rains delayed the growing season and made it shorter.
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Gary350
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Road side markets are something I had forgotten until you mentioned it. When I was in grade school I remember stands in peoples front yard next to the road. As we drove past 10 ft from their stand we could see everything they have for sale. That brings back a bunch of good memories from 60 years ago.
Nostalgia? I don't go far enough back to remember the wagons and horses lined up on a city street. Dad talked about the store where you gave your request to the clerk and products were carried out from the back room to the counter. Those were for "staples." For fresh, you had to grow it or wait for the wagons on the day the farmers came to town.
Transportation advances meant trucks making multiple deliveries at the Mom and Pop stores. With the produce companies and contracts, and the consumers with cars, the supermarket was born. I can remember the first ones opening in the nearby town of 15-20,000. That killed the Mom and Pop (only to be replaced several years later by the gas station selling food). The farmers' market was already history. My memories of a town in the Central Valley of California and of a town in southern Oregon were a couple of farmers' pickups showing up in the parking lot of the feed store and selling sweet corn or melons out of the back. Not the best location for leisurely shopping since these places were both beside the railroad through town.
Then, the farmers' markets began to come back - almost as much for their recreational value as for anything else. Having available organic produce was important, also. Bedding plants, flower bouquets ...
Steve
Transportation advances meant trucks making multiple deliveries at the Mom and Pop stores. With the produce companies and contracts, and the consumers with cars, the supermarket was born. I can remember the first ones opening in the nearby town of 15-20,000. That killed the Mom and Pop (only to be replaced several years later by the gas station selling food
). The farmers' market was already history. My memories of a town in the Central Valley of California and of a town in southern Oregon were a couple of farmers' pickups showing up in the parking lot of the feed store and selling sweet corn or melons out of the back. Not the best location for leisurely shopping since these places were both beside the railroad through town.Then, the farmers' markets began to come back - almost as much for their recreational value as for anything else. Having available organic produce was important, also. Bedding plants, flower bouquets ...
SteveYes, farmer's markets have sure changed. Most of the sellers at farmer's markets sell at more than one venue. Any one farmer's market is only open a few hours in one neighborhood, but there are farmer's markets all over the island on different days and times. It is a lot of work to prepare and pack everything and then set up and sometimes people will move from a morning market to an afternoon market somewhere else and do it all over again. Then, when they get back, they have to unload and do their other chores.
Farmer's markets do allow the small and medium sized farms to be able to reach more customers than they can with just a stand. There is more variety at the farmer's market than you can get at a road side stand. We used to go out once a month just going around the island, stopping at the beach or lunch wagon and buying corn and produce from the farm stands. Gas and traffic makes those kinds of trips arduous and less than relaxing now. If I have to do that, I may as well trek into Chinatown instead.
There are a few mom and pop stores, but you are right. Many of the small stores here survive on cigarette and liquor sales. They cannot compete with larger markets. They are usually much more expensive than bigger markets as well. At the same time for some people who don't have cars, these small stores are the closest place for them to get food. They usually are in a small strip mall out in the boonies and often they also have a laundromat next door. However, even the small stores have a hard time competing with gas/convenience stores.
Farmer's markets do allow the small and medium sized farms to be able to reach more customers than they can with just a stand. There is more variety at the farmer's market than you can get at a road side stand. We used to go out once a month just going around the island, stopping at the beach or lunch wagon and buying corn and produce from the farm stands. Gas and traffic makes those kinds of trips arduous and less than relaxing now. If I have to do that, I may as well trek into Chinatown instead.
There are a few mom and pop stores, but you are right. Many of the small stores here survive on cigarette and liquor sales. They cannot compete with larger markets. They are usually much more expensive than bigger markets as well. At the same time for some people who don't have cars, these small stores are the closest place for them to get food. They usually are in a small strip mall out in the boonies and often they also have a laundromat next door. However, even the small stores have a hard time competing with gas/convenience stores.
I know the farms do get inspections. Sometimes they are announced and sometimes not. There is a lot of stolen products, not only produce but other goods sold at swap meets. The police and inspectors do spot checks at markets to see if people have their licenses and GET licenses for taxes. People do have some certification requirements to prove they have grown their produce and if they buy from others for retail, they have to have a type of bill of sale or certificate that makes it traceable to the source. This is mainly a BOH rule, just in case there is something wrong with the product like ecoli, so the source can be traced.
Each market has their own rules for membership, insurance, certificates, and some markets require that the farms have a certified washing facility. Small farms usually can't afford that. One family farm was in the news because they had leased a building to convert it into a certified facility so they could use it for their own produce so they could sell at places that required a certified facility and they could also rent out the facility to other small farmers who did not have the money to put up a facility of their own.
Even though farmers are required to wash their produce, customers should still wash them again. I have gotten lettuce with slugs in them and I recently got one when I washed the lettuce again found a caterpillar crawling on my arm. Lettuce, cabbages, celery, are hard to wash without taking them apart. There is always some dirt by the base of the celery and most of the loose leaf cabbages.
There have been fruit stolen from the orchards at the gardens almost weekly. And they are marked. Even so, those fruit can still be spotted at the market for sale. It is still hard to get anyone to arrest or even pursue these people. One you have to prove it is your fruit, which if they are marked, you can do that. You also have to prove the one selling it stole it or knowingly obtained stolen fruit. Unless, you can get a confession or an undercover officer is there to "buy" stolen fruit, it is hard to prove anything in court. The fines and punishments are usually not enough to deter the thieves from doing it again It is the same with shoplifters. There are people who are known to the police. It is a misdemeanor for anything valued less than $1000. There is a law where if someone is caught in the act of stealing and cumulative value is $1000, then the crime can be elevated to a felony.
Each market has their own rules for membership, insurance, certificates, and some markets require that the farms have a certified washing facility. Small farms usually can't afford that. One family farm was in the news because they had leased a building to convert it into a certified facility so they could use it for their own produce so they could sell at places that required a certified facility and they could also rent out the facility to other small farmers who did not have the money to put up a facility of their own.
Even though farmers are required to wash their produce, customers should still wash them again. I have gotten lettuce with slugs in them and I recently got one when I washed the lettuce again found a caterpillar crawling on my arm. Lettuce, cabbages, celery, are hard to wash without taking them apart. There is always some dirt by the base of the celery and most of the loose leaf cabbages.
There have been fruit stolen from the orchards at the gardens almost weekly. And they are marked. Even so, those fruit can still be spotted at the market for sale. It is still hard to get anyone to arrest or even pursue these people. One you have to prove it is your fruit, which if they are marked, you can do that. You also have to prove the one selling it stole it or knowingly obtained stolen fruit. Unless, you can get a confession or an undercover officer is there to "buy" stolen fruit, it is hard to prove anything in court. The fines and punishments are usually not enough to deter the thieves from doing it again It is the same with shoplifters. There are people who are known to the police. It is a misdemeanor for anything valued less than $1000. There is a law where if someone is caught in the act of stealing and cumulative value is $1000, then the crime can be elevated to a felony.