Market Is Open

ALFN Members,

Welcome to another week of fresh produce and locally-crafted produce on ALFN’s market. Watermelons have arrived! Just in time for July festivities, Hardin Farms have posted three varieties of melon on the market. Beyond melons, patty pans and acorn squashes are available. Folks, we are in the fat of summer!

Updates

This Tuesday from 7-9 pm, Science Cafe will host a conversation on the Science of Food with a panel including Jack Sundell from The Root. Head over there for a lively discussion!

Food Marketing and Farmers’ Markets

A member of ALFN sent me an interesting article this week from The Washington Post. Entitled, Farmers Markets Just Aren’t What They Used To Be, the piece traces the recent changes in demand at the farmers market. In the first decade of the second millennium, the local farmers market burgeoned with consumers and growers. Many business models solely targeted the farmers market. However, today farmers are finding a decrease in sales unless they diversify or adjust their marketing. The article cites a couple of interesting reasons for the shift. First, a changing demographic of consumers visit the farmers market to shop with their eyes, but not necessarily their wallet. The farmers market becomes an event for consumers to buy a beer and some prepared food and meet with friends. Attributed to a declining culinary tradition with consumers spending more on food services such as restaurants and ready made delivered meals, farmers can struggle to sell basic ingredients for meals directly to the consumer. Some farmers respond to this changing demographic by providing cooking classes and suggested recipes with their produce. Second, the article cites the evolution of the farmers market from a local agriculture-supported market to a market that embodies a lifestyle choice. This shift requires a change in marketing to attract consumers based on a certain lifestyle. I find this evolution to be unfortunate. The shift marks a move away from concrete values for supporting a local economy and a move toward superficial consumerism centered on the identity of the buyer. In other words, the shift symbolizes a move away from buying local tomatoes to buying the idea of tomatoes. Third, farmers markets are still in direct competition with the brick and mortar food stores that are becoming more savvy. I applaud box stores purchasing from local growers, but I worry about the power dynamics. The hierarchical exchange between local grower and corporate grocer can easily force growers to be sharecroppers.

Ultimately, farmers markets are beautiful democratic spaces. These local spots of exchange can become unbalanced, however. The local tomato can be symbolized to be either sappy compassion for poor farmers, or the local tomato can get wrapped up in the identity politics of the chic, bobo culture. In the end, let a tomato be a tomato. The point of exchange is the concrete moment that should be valued. When we buy from local farmers, we simply put value in the thing itself. When a farmer grows a tomato for the local market, the farmer puts value in the thing itself. There are demands that arise from this simple interaction. Consumers will demand quality products with locally cultivated taste and health profiles.Growers will demand equitable exchange rates to maintain the market.

Thanks to all of our members and growers who make this market work with a simple market exchange that embodies the human need to eat.

Have a great week.

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager