Truly Local

Keeping It Mostly Local in Cooperstown

The 17-year-old farmers market in Cooperstown, N.Y., allows its farmers to supplement their home-grown fruits and vegetables with a limited quantity of produce that they have purchased from others, but tries to keep a tight lid on the practice. According to the rules that govern the market, which runs every Saturday from mid-May through mid-December, 80 percent of the food and crafts offered for sale by each vendor must be grown or produced by the “vendor, a member of the vendor’s immediate family, or representative” within a 50-mile radius of Cooperstown. Those items that the vendor has purchased from others must be clearly labeled as such.

For the 20% of brokered products offered by a vendor, the vendor must fill out the sign provided by the Market Manager that identifies where the items were grown or produced. Fruit from adjacent states may be sold at the market if it is not in season in New York State.

The market management seems to be serious about enforcing the rules. To that end, each vendor must sign an inspection agreement, consenting to spot checks by the manager and an independent inspector on 24-hour notice. A curiously worded provision in the agreement states that inspections “will be used indiscriminately for new vendors, and for investigating suspected violations.” What do the inspectors’ look for, and what happens if the suspicion that a vendor was cheating is confirmed?

Inspection criteria will be based on the vendor’s market application. Are they growing the crops listed on their application? Are they growing amounts that correspond to what is sold at market? Are they baking, processing, or otherwise producing items sold at the market and in corresponding quantities?

In the event that a grower/producer is found to be in violation by the inspectors or refuses to provide access to their farm/kitchen/production facilities, they will be afforded a hearing before the Market Board, at which time the grower/producer can present evidence to support a defense. After the hearing the Market Board will render a decision. Disciplinary actions include but are not limited to temporary or permanent suspension from the farmers’ market, and/or fines.

Keeping Them Honest in Sullivan County, New York

I'm not sure when Trina Pilonero, of Silver Heights Farm, in New York, wrote this article about farmers market rules. But it's worth mentioning here because it explains, from the perspective of a member of the board of directors of the Sullivan County Area Farmers Market (SCAFM), why market rules need to be tightly enforced.

Pilonero doesn't seem particularly concerned about how others choose to run their "farmers market." They "come in all sizes, have a multitude of purposes, are organized by many different groups and individuals and serve many different kinds of communities," she writes. Some may even have nothing to do with real farmers. But whatever your take on the concept happens to be, you should make the decision, explain your mission and stick with it. "Without guidance, markets can become highly disorganized and fall apart," she writes.

The SCAFM's market is a producer-only market for locals selling food they grew or produced themselves nearby. And that's a promise, according to a vow on the association's Web site:

"The Sullivan County Area Farmers’ Markets rules assure you that the items for sale are grown, produced, reared, caught, brewed, pickled, baked, smoked, processed or hand-crafted by the vendor. All of the items for sale are local since we require the goods to be produced within a 75-mile radius of Sullivan County."

The market association use to handle disciplinary issues on an ad hoc basis. But it got to a point where there were so many minor infractions, such as vendors packing up and leaving the market early, that the board finally had to establish a formal disciplinary process.

In her article on market rules, Pilonero said the occasional peddlers nabbed in the market have been easy to deal with:

"SCAFM has had vendors that tried to sell products they misrepresented as grown by them, when the products were actually carried. When faced with a farm inspection, those vendors voluntarily withdrew from the market."