Over time, the growing popularity of online farmers’ markets and local grocery stores could fundamentally change the food system, for better than for worse. According to Harry Stevenson, a thriving farmers’ market can become an integral part of the community that connects small farmers with consumers and plays a key role in local food systems. Not only does farmer’s markets help the local economy by allowing small and large family farmers to increase their market share, he said, but they also shorten the distance that products have to travel and save energy.
At farmers’ markets, local farmers, producers and other food producers or sellers come together to sell local farmers’ products directly to the public. Farmers markets have always been a place where farmers can connect with new customers and other local farmers and find their unique place as farmers in their local food community. Farmers’ markets have always been a place where many consumers discover the taste and preference for fresh, nutritious local produce.
Farmers markets not only provide consumers with the opportunity to consume fresh and local produce, but also provide producers and consumers with the opportunity to get to know each other on a personal level. Local food markets, once considered a central hub for the community to sell the freshest produce and where consumers can regularly interact with their neighbors, local food markets or farmers markets as they were once known, have made a notable comeback of late. And, according to a new study, giving modern consumers the opportunity to connect with the producers who grow their food.
CSA and local food centers are increasingly using online platforms to make local farmers’ products available to local buyers. Consumers are showing a new interest in buying food directly from a farmer or producer in their area. One of the reasons for this shift in consumers is the new awareness of the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet, which creates opportunities to market local products to consumers through farmers’ markets.
However, the biggest indicator of increased market interest in local products is the number of farmers’ markets emerging in the US. There are 8,144 farmers’ markets in the US today. It is estimated that over 3 million consumers shop at these markets, and about 30,000 smallholder farmers and food entrepreneurs earn part or all of their living selling about 30 local products at farmers’ markets (PPS 2006). Even in times of rapid expansion and popularity driven by the namesake “gourmets” and the local food movement, a surprising number of farmers’ markets close during or after Oregon State University’s first year, according to new Oregon research.
Some farmers’ markets open with the broader goal of supporting the local economy, providing food security to the public, revitalizing public spaces or urban areas, addressing public health and nutrition concerns, or improving access to fresh produce for the underprivileged. Farmers’ markets often sell natural or organically grown local fruits and vegetables, pasture-raised and human-raised meats, handmade cheeses, eggs and poultry from free-range poultry, and heirloom products and breeds of animals and birds.
