Somerville, a suburb of Boston, Mass., will have a winter farmers market this year. Great idea! Except that it won't exactly be a farmers market.
As manager Jaime Corliss explained in an article about the winter market in the Boston Globe, “the market will include not only Massachusetts produce but fruit and veggies grown by small farms all the way down the East Coast to Florida, sourced by Enterprise Farms and carefully labeled to show which is which.”
The trouble with that plan is, why would truly local farmers bother to try innovating, to extend their season and grow winter crops, if they'll be competing with produce trucked in from Florida? Truly local winter farmers markets in the frosty Northeast actually can take off, if produce from far away is kept out.
UPDATE: Dave Jackson, of Enterprise Farms, offered a thoughtful defense of the plan for a winter market.
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