Truly Local

Too Many Farmers Markets in Seattle?

The city’s daily paper, the Post-Intelligencer, asked the question, thoughtfully discussed it, and drew some intelligent responses from readers – along with the usual smattering that such newspaper articles bring of potshots at the self righteous, tree-hugging arugula eaters who are believed by farmers market haters to frequent the uppity street fests.

 

There has been an “explosion” of farmers markets in Seattle recently, the paper reported, bringing the total to 19 in the city and 39 in Kings County. The problem, as we have seen in other states including California and Minnesota, is that new markets cannibalize from older ones, and farmers get run ragged scurrying around  marketing all week when they need to be doing some farming. Even more troubling, if there aren’t enough real farmers to serve numerous markets in a city, the temptation, as has been seen in Massachusets and elsewhere, is to fill market stalls with imposters who are reselling produce. That would defeat the purpose of starting new “farmers markets,” wouldn’t it? It would also undermine consumer confidence in the whole concept of buying presumably superior, fresh-picked, locally grown produce at the venues.

 

So, what’s to be done? First, stop thinking that the be all and end all of a farmers market is to breathe life into a moribund corner of town. Seattle's Office of Economic Development has apparently thought along this lines, and according to the PI, “sees farmers markets as necessary tools for developing vibrant commercial districts.” But the agency may be having second thoughts about that, and “has recently begun studying the issue of competition and viability.”

 

Another possible solution: give real local farmers much more say-so in how many markets a city needs, and when and where they should be held.

 

As for consumers who want to support local farms but can’t always mesh their schedules with the limited hours of a farmers market, how about some regular retail outlets that specialize in local produce? That’s what TheSherm proposed in a comment posted on the PI web site: “Perhaps what’s needed is a distribution network, and consumers who are willing to buy from distributors rather than always wanting to know, ‘Did you grow these carrots yourself?’ What’s unreasonable is to expect large growers from outside the city to set up, stock, and staff booths at dozens of ‘neighborhood’ markets simultaneously, all while providing low prices and a ‘know your farmer’ experience.”

 

Pennyws, on the other hand, could do without the whole scene: “I don't bother with the yuppie, hippie crowd at the farmers markets. There’s not much difference in price getting it there, versus Safeway and the atmosphere is a bit pretentious at times.”

 

And tomross piped in: “There are too few farms to support all the ‘trendy’ purchasers who want to brag how humane they are by going to Farmer’s Markets.”

 

Jqpublic seems to think that good people would be better off if the whole stinkin’ city slid off the continent into the Pacific Ocean, taking the farmers who catered to city dwellers with it: “The idiot farmers deserve not making money believing Seattle. Too bad,” that cynic sniffed.

 

Wayward 'Farmers Market' Booted From Fold

A farmers market association in the state of Washington booted the 12-year-old Federal Way Farmer's Market out of the fold after the market's management refused to evict a franchise bread vendor. The owners of the farmers market, Karla Kolibab, and her parents, David and Rose Ehl, insisted that since customers really seem to like Great Harvest Bread, they saw no reason not to offer it.

The trouble is, as the Washington State Farmers Market Association sees it, farmers markets are supposed to be venues where local farmers can sell locally grown produce, not places where anyone can sell whatever buyers happen to want. Outlets for national franchises are clearly against the rules that markets belonging to the association pledge to follow. They are crucially important rules, designed to assure that at a venue that presents itself to consumers as a “farmers market”

The market will be dominated by growers selling produce which they raised on their own nearby farm. All the produce sold will predominantly come directly from a nearby farm and will be fresh. All the crafts sold will be handmade by the vendor. All processed foods sold will by made by the vendor.

Over the summer, the association notifed the market in Federal Way, a town north of Tacoma, that the bread franchise violated the rules. The association also asked the management to discontinue an occasional swap meet. Pam Grueter-Schmidt, president of the market association, told a reporter for the Federal Way Mirror why strict rules are important, and why the town’s market was getting defrocked.

The WSFMA insists that goods sold at its affiliated farmers markets are grown or made in Washington state, Grueter-Schmidt said. Great Harvest Breads, though a Federal Way business, may not use local ingredients to produce its goods, she said. Furthermore, a swap meet does not fit into the association’s guidelines because it offers products that are not handmade, she said.

The markets managers, after conversations with their attorney, essentially told the association good riddance. They are continuing to run the market their way, with franchise bread hopping off the shelves. What’s next, a McDonald’s outlet? Nah, they wouldn’t do that -- though they seem to have something up their sleeve now that the association’s enforcers are off their back.

Kolibab and the Ehls assure the market will not introduce more franchises, but that Great Harvest Bread is staying only because that is what Federal Way citizens and market shoppers desire. ‘We are excited about what we can do now,’ Kolibab said. ‘It will allow us to grow a little bit more.’

Middlemen Okay in Washington State Farmers Markets

The rules of the Washington State Farmers Market Association define the term "farmers market" broadly enough to allow some reselling of produce grown by others, as long as the market is "dominated by growers selling produce which they raised on their own nearby farm."

Reselling is allowed in markets that will pass muster with the association, as long as gross sales by real farmers aren't exceeded by sales by resellers and othern nonfarm vendors.  The resold merchandise also must be clearly labeled as such. This is how the association defines a "reseller," theoretically assuring that that there's just a single middleman between farmer and consumers, not layer after layer of middlemen:

Reseller: One who buys produce from farmers in Washington State and counties which border Washington, trucks it to a WSFMA member farmers market, and resells it directly to the consumer. The reseller is expected to be the only stop between the grower and the consumer. They are not expected to deal with shippers, warehousers or jobbers. They must not sell any produce not grown in Washington and its surrounding counties. They may sell any produce they grow themselves on their own property (see: Farmers). Resellers are sellers of crops that cannot be grown reliably, or offered for sale in sufficient quantity, by farmers selling at a given WSFMA member market, as determined by the individual WSFMA member market's governing body. Resellers must have crops pre-approved by market governing body before delivering the crops to market for sale. Approved resold crops must be specifically limited, so as not to compete with the crops of farmers within the geographic vendor boundaries of the WSFMA member market, as defined by the market's policies and by-laws. Resellers must label their products as being resold*, and information must be available for the consumer as to which farms produced those products. (*other terms synonymous with "resold" may be substituted.)