Arkansas Market Still Dominated by Peddled Produce

The Little Rock River Market is evidently quite a tourist draw, but it has long been dogged by complaints that it isn't a true farmers market. In fact, truly local farmers say they have been driven out by peddlers of cheap imported food. Complaints of this sort were documented two years ago. They surfaced again in a recent report on a local television station. Two-thirds of the produce sold in the so-called farmers market is brought in from out of state, said farmer Jody Hardin, who was blowing the whistle then and now.

There's nothing wrong with that, a city official seems to think. Bryan Day, Little Rock's assistant city manager, told the television news channel that bringing in produce from outside of Arkansas is a necessity.

"Because we're in Arkansas, to have a full market, that would be very hard to do, so we do have to allow produce to come in from other states and sometimes from other countries."

Hardin has had enough of that kind of thinking. He said he plans to open a purely local food stand with several other local farmers nearby.