Importance of Buying at Farmers Markets Now

National Farmers Market Week is August 4-10! How do I plan to celebrate? By visiting the market of course. But I will be doing so not just for less expensive food, but also because it is a great family outing, great for community building, and exercise. It can importantly provide economic support to our local farmers.

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_{Graphic from Market Farmers Coalition.}*

You Choose Where To Buy

Here is what goes through my head when I think of getting ready to go to the local farmer’s market.

“This is going to be great, because it will get us out of our house, outdoors with fresh air, exercising, while doing our shopping. Maybe grab a bite, ohhh, maybe they will have kettle corn too. Even if not, it fills our day with a variety of color and smells, and the chaos of multiple bodies and sounds which is all good for our mental health. It can give us a break on food costs, while also supporting local farms, and the larger community. All in all a very healthy, and joyous way to spend a day. Too bad the dogs cannot come with us.”
— Patty’s unusually logical internal voice

The Framework

A farmers market is a public and recurring assembly of farmers or their representatives selling the food that they produced directly to consumers — FMC.

History

Craftspeople and merchants were the entertainment and newspapers of the old world, going from village to village on a set route, sharing news and bartering or selling wares, and picking up items to resell, perhaps in the next village. If you gave them a request, they would keep a lookout for that item while on their route.

As towns grew, separation started happening between the rural farmers and the bit more crowded urban towns. Historians indicate that this was what happened as bazars, or outdoor markets, started to form well over 5k years ago, in Egypt. In this case, craftspeople and farmers would go to the urban settings and set up their wares for trade or sale.

Jump forward to the 19th century USA, and these urban markets still occur, and are still critical to local rural economies. Farmers traded their products for money, then went to the general stores and bought supplies for the coming year. As well, gathering at the market was most likely the only time the rural and urban people met one another outside of church.

Jump to now in the 21st century USA and we have farmer’s street markets all over the country. While they do not barter as much, like they used to, they still sell wares. In fact, they sell some of the same produce and crafts or homemade goods as in the older days. The spaces are different, more hygienic, and we now buy some produce not normally seen, but it is similar.

All in all, what we experience today is essentially a continuation of a very old tradition.

My Governmental Sources

I have been reading a lot of statistics and policies about agriculture from over 15 different Federal governmental agencies. They often offer analysis from a governmental, legislative, and capitalistic business point of views that are both enlightening and for me confusing. To me, it seems clear they are focused on the size of farm production, its revenue, and profits; and NOT on public health, land – animal – people’s welfare, or nutritional needs.

_{Governmental Agencies I scoured for data on small to medium sized farms and farmers markets.}

The information they track about farms appear to have been identified by what I consider four types, generally based on size of acres, herds, yield, or revenue.

Four Farm Types
- Negligible: A family farm growing enough for themselves and their community but not run as a money making venture.
- Small: Family or individually owned farms
- Large: Large, often still family farms, focused on food as a commodity
- Industrial: Very large businesses owned by conglomerates or centralized cooperatives

Who Sells at Farmers Markets

The simple answer is all types of farms and venders can show up. I have an expectation however, that Industrial Farms do not show up there. Although in some places they do sneak in according to some Canadian News programs I have been reviewing, getting smaller farms to sell their wares at discount.

I expect that the vendors at the markets are negligible to small farms with a few medium-sized farms that are often in cooperatives.

Post Pandemic World

During this time of reopening our society, when still a large population are wearing masks when indoors in crowds. It is important to remember where we have been and how we want to “build back better.” I have used this phrase before and do not mean it politically, I mean that we have experienced a shut down of our regular lives and we should take this time of reopening to actually think about what we want to do when things return to a more normal level.

Even though it is now 2024, I still feel things are not fully back, and perhaps may not be ever.
Masks still crop up,.
I still pay attention to when my flu + covid vaccines are scheduled.
And the global logistics of our food and supply chains are still a bit effected.
Not to mention the ongoing economic effects of the pandemic, although we are doing better than the rest of the world.

I have written about how, prior to the Pandemic, small and medium farms were going out of business and large, industrial farms were growing. As we can start gathering again, and shop at outdoor Farmer’s Markets, we should understand that we are not only buying our food, but are also triggering a series of positive actions that support negligible, to small, to medium sized farms.

From 1992 to 2007, 21% of mid-sized farms in the U.S. stopped operations.
CivilEats writes: The 2017 Agriculture Census data recently out confirmed the continuing decline of medium-sized family farms, as the overall number of farms dropped by 3 percent and the only categories that saw any growth were very large and very small operations.

Farmers Markets Help Preserve Farmland + Farmers

Farmers Markets preserve farmland by allowing farmers to sell directly to its customers at higher retail prices, which provides a better margin on sales. When farms sell to wholesale middle people, restaurants, and others, they receive less money than if they retailed directly. Having owned my own business before, I know how important that influx of extra earnings can help when things are tight.

While many consider farming as a lifestyle, it is importantly also a business. Most of the existing negligible and medium sized farms are family owned, often working cooperatively with each other to survive especially against the “big boys”.

Critically these days the farmers are older and approaching or past retirement age. To preserve the farms and farmlands, so they are not developed, we need to find ways to support those very small and medium sized farms as younger farmers are phased in. This means they need a way to ease into selling their agricultural wares, testing the waters so to speak, and making enough money from the start to keep working.

There are 5 times as many U.S. farmers over the age of 65 compared to those under 35.
In 2022 it was reported that 1/3 of the 3.4M farmers were over 65 years of age.
Which is why I support the USDA conducting outreach and support to the young, women, and people of color to take up farming.
And support for armers markets, as they provide one of the only low-barrier entry points for new farmers to sell retail, making some money, having direct contact with customers, and a place to test the market for their foods.

Small farms use Markets to try out new products from their farms: jams + jellies, infused soaps + lotions, new drink combinations, pastries, etc. They also try out new crops or varieties to find ways to meet our ever changing tastes.

Even very small community-markets can help preserve farmland by allowing small to medium sized farms an outlet for retail sales. Seven Seattle farmers markets, hosted by the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance, for example, supports 9,491 acres of farmland in diversified production. Those are great numbers and I believe my area is doing just as well.

Farmers Markets Help Rural Economies

Jobs

Rural communities have always relied on farms to provide jobs, and often become the tax base of those local economies. Farmers who sell locally to stores and retail at Markets have, in general, created 13 full time jobs per $1M in revenue earned, while those farmers that do not sell locally create only 3 jobs (1). Thus, local farms that sell at Farmers Markets create more local jobs.

This is also reflected in the basic view that when compared to industrialized farms, smaller farms do not have the machines so use labor to get the same work done. Industrialized farms produce cheaper produce because of lower staffing, lower production costs due to standardized, machine ready growing and harvesting practices.

Over 2007 – 2012 the US Census of Agricultural data noted that farms selling local foods directly to consumers, like at an open market, were more likely to remain in business, than all farms not selling directly to consumers.

Money Made is Money Kept

The USDA estimated that local food sales from farmers markets, food hubs, CSAs, farm stands, and farm-to-school programs have grown from from ~$5B in 2008 to $11.7B in 2014. That is a lot of money spent in rural areas and allows farmers to have direct and positive impact in their communities.

A 2010 study by USDA’s Economic Research Service compared producers selling salad mix, blueberries, milk, beef, and apples locally, to producers of the same products selling to mainstream supply: In all five cases, nearly all of the wage and proprietor income earned in the local market chains is retained in the local economy (2).

Reduce Transportation + Provides Marketing

So far I have shown that farmers selling their wares directly to consumers can improve their financial situations, which allows them to continue to farm, thereby saving farm lands. I also showed how integrating the products from local farms into the community food chain also helps them, and benefits everyone by creating jobs and keeping money more local.

But markets do more. They reduce the transportation costs of foods, as the farms are more local, they directly reward ethical farmers, and put names that mean something to the food we eat. For instance I learned of Frog Hallow Farms at the market and now in my mind they are associated with damn good peaches, pastries, and good looking produce.

In terms of marketing, I do not mean advertisement for their food, that is a given. I mean that the farmers and consumers can talk about their desire for organic, or chemical free food, or their farming practices. This is marketing directly to the people that care about these things and will listen and reward farmers trying to do the right things.

On average, food travels over 1,000 miles from the point of production to the retail store (5). In contrast, many farmers markets only allow vendors to sell food produced within 200 miles; while some markets limit to food grown within 50 miles.
Locally or regionally sourced produce travels about 27 times less distance than conventionally sourced produce.(6)
Nearly half of markets sell organically labeled products, and many more sell chemical or pesticide-free labeled products (3).
In a 2015 survey of farmers selling at farmers markets:(7)
- Four out of five discuss farming practices with their customers, educating them about farming and its interactions with the natural environment.
- Three out of every four say they use practices consistent with organic standards.
- 48% use integrated pest management, information on the life cycle of pests and their interaction with the environment to manage and prevent crop damage.
- 81% incorporate cover crops, reduced tillage, on-site composting, and other soil health practices into their operations.

Market Prices are Affordable or Competitive

But Farmers Markets also can help people on the lower end of income find better or equal costs costs to a grocery store. So it makes good economic sense for consumers to buy directly from the farmer.

PBS reports that at farmers markets in low-income areas, 6 in 10 shoppers said that they could find better prices at the markets than at their grocery stores.
A 2011 study of southeast and Appalachia markets found that in 74% of communities, farmers market produce was on average 22% less expensive than supermarket produce.
In one study, average Farmers Market produce prices were 9% lower than at supermarkets in 12 North Carolina counties.
A Vermont study found that prices for many conventional products, and all organic products (except potatoes), were lower at farmers markets than nearby supermarkets (4).

Farmers + Farmers Markets are Great Partners

Farmers Markets are great partners with governmental programs like SNAP.

In 2017, approximately 7,377 markets and farmers accepted SNAP benefits. Some states that help farmers markets accept SNAP saw a ten-fold increase in the number of markets accepting SNAP between 20012 and 2017.
More than 5 million WIC participants and 835,795 low-income seniors bought fresh produce directly from farmers in 2013 through the WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Programs.
In 2012, New York City’s farmers markets distributed over $280,000 in Health Bucks, a health incentive coupon, to SNAP participants. Nearly three-quarters of Health Bucks users reported that the coupons made them more likely to buy fresh produce.
In 2011, 65 farmers markets participated in Health Bucks, a New York City SNAP incentive program. Two-thirds of SNAP participants surveyed say that Health Bucks increased their fruit and vegetable consumption.

My Views

There are other intangible reasons for supporting the Farmers Markets that touch more than our need for good, quality, and fresh food. Studies of LA’s farmers market shoppers, revealed that 75% came to market to do more than shop, 55% felt the market increased their connection to community, 99% believed the market improved community health, and 53% believed the market improves the perceptions of the neighborhood.

One of the series of intangibles that Farmers Markets provide is getting out in public, reducing isolation, and increasing moods. A study by the Project for Public Spaces revealed that people who shop at farmers markets have 15-20 social interactions per visit, while they would only have one or two per visit to the grocery store. Evidence of the clear correlations between social interaction and health mean the social space at farmers markets has important public health implications.

I find that another intangible is the hidden exercise that I get walking up and down the stalls, barely realizing I am exercising since I am also having fun. The American Fitness Index includes the number of farmers markets per capita as a factor contributing to healthier communities, using it as an indicator for community members’ access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Additionally, it was found that the proximity to farmers markets was associated with lower body mass index (BMI) among North Carolina youth, while density of fast-food and pizza venues was associated with higher BMI.

The National Farmers Markets Week will be starting 4 August for 2024, and 3 August for 2025. I plan on going those days specifically to celebrate the 25+ years movement.

—Patty