The proliferation of farmers markets has been great for consumers but not necessarily such a good deal for farmers. Increasing numbers of growers have been speaking out about the challenges and diminishing returns of selling produce at farmers markets. A report in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2007, for instance, broached the subject of whether farmers markets are a “broken model” for supporting local farmers. David Karp, writing recently in the Los Angeles Times, reported on the growing frustrations among some long-time vendors at Los Angeles area farmers market. Karp cites a proliferation of peddlers as one of the problems that is forcing some truly local farmers out of famers markets.
Robert Knight Jr., who grows citrus fruit in the Redlands area and has sold at Los Angeles area farmers markets for years, is one such farmer who has dropped out. “He loves the original concept of certified farmers markets — farmers selling directly to consumers — but became discouraged by the increasing prevalence of large farms, employees who had little connection with their farms and peddlers who illicitly sold produce bought from other farms or wholesalers,” Karp reported.
‘Now when you go to a farmers market, it's almost like a mall experience, where you see the same vendors all over,’ Knight said. ‘The added value of being small and really local isn't as important as it used to be.’
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