Truly Local

Winter 'Farmers Market' in Massachusetts With Produce Trucked in from Florida Explained

I took a potshot the other day at plans for a winter farmers market in Somerville, Mass., zeroing in on the fact that some of the produce will be trucked in from as far south as Florida. I noted that organizers of the market are promising the out-of-state stuff will be clearly labeled as such. So at least gullible shoppers won’t be scammed into thinking it was locally grown and picked hours earlier. But still, should a place that sells produce grown by a third party a thousand miles away be allowed to cash in on the farmers market fad by calling itself a farmers market?

I called Dave Jackson (with his family in photo at left), of Enterprise Farm, which will be supplying the Somerville winter market with produce from the southern states, and asked for an explanation. Jackson offered an illuminating response, explaining how he got into the business of shipping produce from a thousand miles away, how that makes economic and environmental sense, and why it is ultimately a good thing for customers and for the viability of small farms like his in New England as well as small farms in the South. The conversation also touched on other topics, including what locavores think of him and vice versa.

Locally Grown...a Thousand Miles Away

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.

"Local" Market With Plenty of Wiggle Room

The founders of a new winter “farmers market” in Springfield, Mass., clearly know what buzz words will lure the sort of audience they are targeting with their venture. Why buy food shipped from California when you can buy local produce fresh off local farms from us, they told a reporter for The Republican, the daily paper in Springfield, who visited the market one day in December. During the reporter's tour of the market, a shopper dutifully piped in that she “wouldn't mind even paying slightly more for the local products.”

But just how “local” is the produce that will be sold at this “cold weather farmers market”? Well into the story, the founders, Blake Geryk and David F. Jackson, concede that the market is only "as local as possible." The produce they sell is also not necessarily straight from the farm. They have turned themselves into middlemen for farmers from near and, apparently also, from far away, though not quite so far away as California. As they explain their business model in the article in The Republican:

"We were asked by a group of food (cooperatives) to work as a distributor for them and decided to establish a farm-based distribution center that helps farmers to handle produce," said Jackson. "We're working with local farmers as well as with growers in the Carolinas, (and are) looking at Georgia," he said.

Not Enough Market Farmers in Massachusetts

In many parts of North America, there aren’t enough real farmers to fill all the farmers markets that every country hamlet and urban downtown is scrambling to set up these days. As noted the other day, it's a problem that's percolating in Minnesota right now. The Boston Globe recently reported on how the market-farmer shortage is playing out in Massachusetts.

"We don't have enough farmers to go around, so some communities are going without," the story quoted Jeff Cole, executive director of the Massachusetts Federation of Farmers' Markets, as saying. Did Cole mean that some communities are going without farmers markets? Or are “farmers markets” in some communities making do without farmers?

Undoubtedly, managers of some markets, desperate to bring some trendy farmers market vibe to their town, are tempted to fill the gaps with resellers of wholesale produce. Is that happening in Massachusetts? I asked Jeff Cole to expound on the snippet of his comment that was carried in the story in the Globe. In a response by email, Cole said he meant some communities are not able to start markets they want for lack of farmers willing and able to participate. But it is also true that an increasing volume of resold produce is filling the void, Cole acknowledged:

“As far as we know, farmers markets [in Massachusetts] are not operating with ‘pure resellers’ -- folks who are not farmers or bakers, etc. but who simply buy wholesale and sell retail. But over the years there have been a very few attempts by what we call ‘jobbers’ to infiltrate the system.  (We do not consider Haymarket in Boston a farmers market. It is purely wholesale to retail with no growers involved.)

“However, there are a number of markets that permit farmers and backyard growers to purchase product from other farmers and sell it at the market. Over the past few years, in response to the pressure, there has been an increase in the percentage of markets that allow this, but we never thought to track this information statistically."

Cole proceeded to outline the Massachusetts Federation of Farmers' Markets' position on reselling:

“Our stance is that each market must make the choice for itself in concert with the participating farmers and the community. We are, however, firm in the belief that transparency to the consumer is the most important factor in this process. Since the standard assumption of a farmers market is that the grower is selling their own product, we encourage large and clear signage for each farm in a farmers market that is selling another farm's product. In FMFM-managed markets (only seven) we in fact require it when the farmers choose to operate in what we term a ‘cooperative sales’ venue. We feel that as long as the consumer is clear about where their food is coming from, and the community supports the market, one system is not ‘better’ than the other.

“Overall, what we promote and believe is proper is ensuring that, through clarity about source of product, the consumer is the decision maker of final resort. In that regard we are supporters of the country of origin labeling requirements (as are most U.S. family farmers) passed by Congress some time ago and for which implementation is being thwarted (or perhaps more accurately Congress is allowing it to be thwarted) by special interest groups, corporate food giants, retail associations, and lobbyists.”