A Glut Of Farmer’s Markets?
The rise of farmer’s markets seems to leading to contradictory economics. Some farmers says that the increased number of markets forces them to spread out over more markets to get the same sales as before, while new farmers feel forced into creating new markets because they are blocked from existing ones.
Katie Zezima, As Farmers’ Markets Boom, Some See a Glut in the Making
Farmers in pockets of the country say the number of farmers’ markets has outstripped demand, a consequence of a clamor for markets that are closer to customers and communities that want multiple markets.
Some farmers say small new markets have lured away loyal customers and cut into profits. Other farmers say they must add markets to their weekly rotation to earn the same money they did a few years ago, reducing their time in the field and adding employee hours.
“It’s a small pie — it’s too hard to cut it,” said Mr. Spineti, who owns Twin Oak Farms in nearby Agawam. Mr. Spineti, who was selling vegetables and small fig trees, his farm’s specialty, at the Wednesday market here, said his profits were down by a third to a half over the last few years.
Nationwide, the number of farmers’ markets has jumped to 7,175 as of Aug. 5; of those, 1,043 were established this year, according to the federal Agriculture Department. In 2005, there were 4,093 markets across the country.
The fact must be that demand is growing less quickly than the number of markets, which will have a direct impact on the profits of farmers.
However, the farmers and markets are too disorganized to come up with solutions to increase demand or decrease expenses. Instead of an ‘every-farner-for-himself’, farmers will increasingly form cooperatives that will decrease expenses through shared (lower cost) transportation, and increased demand by marketing and coalitions with restaurants and conventional grocery stores. But it will take a few more boom-bust fluctuations to wise everyone up.
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