Farmers' Markets

Farmers' markets are public markets typically held outdoors, where farmers congregate to sell anything from fruits and vegetables to meat, dairy products, honey, baked goods, and cut flowers. Most producers who sell at these events are relatively small and often use fewer pesticides and herbicides than large-scale farmers. The popularity of these events in the United States has grown tremendously over the years. In 1970, for example, there were about 340 retail farmers' markets in the United States, and by 2005 that number had increased to almost 4,000. Similar trends are also recorded in the United Kingdom, where there were no farmers' markets in the early 1990s but almost 300 by the decade's end. Farmers' markets probably originated in Ancient Greece and Rome, where venders would locate in the center of the city to sell a variety of freshly grown commodities and other goods.

For farmers, the markets provide a market to raise and sell products. They also report satisfaction knowing that they are providing locally produced food to nearby communities. On the other hand, consumers are often motivated by food freshness. They also report that they value knowing the origin of their food. A sense of community and friendship is also developed by buying from and selling to the same people week after week.

Farmers' markets are often viewed as a counter movement to recent trends in agriculture. In 1935, the number of farms in the United States peaked at 6.8 million as the population approached almost 127 million. Today, the U.S. population is approximately 290 million, yet fewer than 1 million claim farming as their principal occupation. This changing structure of agriculture has been of significant consequence. Today, farms are bigger, more mechanized, and more reliant upon chemical inputs than ever before, which negatively impacts the environment through soil erosion and water pollution, and depletes rural communities as people leave agriculture for city employment. Because less than 1 percent of the population now lives on a farm (whereas nearly 50 percent did so 100 years ago), fewer people today have a connection to agriculture and the sources of their food.

Farmers' markets provide a market for smaller farms, and does not require large investments in inputs. Moreover, farmers' markets allow consumers to see who grew their food and to ask questions about how it was raised. Moreover, the revenue is retained by the farmer, versus a “middle man.” The money is therefore likely to remain in the community.

This increase in the number of jobs in a community has led to the economic multiplier effect of farmers' markets, which also help benefit nearby businesses and regional farms. Some studies, for example, have reported an increase in property values in areas near the market, or the increases in tax revenues. Farmers' markets, because of their low economic barriers to entry, also allow for entrepreneurial activity.

Until recently, the majority of customers at farmers' markets tended to be from the middle class; markets were often located in, or near, middle-class neighborhoods. In 1992, Congress established the Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) to provide fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables to WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) participants and to expand the public awareness of farmers' markets. Forty-five different states now participate [Page 646]in this program, which also provides grants to state agencies. WIC coupons can be used to buy unprepared fruits, vegetables, and herbs from farmers' markets that are then submitted by the farmer for reimbursement. Such coupons resulted in over $26.9 million in revenue to farmers in 2004.

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