Farmers' Market Fakers

by Jan Ellen Spiegel, Posted Apr 29th 2010 @ 5:30PM

With farmers' market season about hit primetime, a Wall Street Journal story sounded the alarm about farmers and others who purchase and resell products that are not theirs.

It seems the Wisconsin case the story focused on is more the exception than the rule. "You got to grow it to sell it. We do not allow resellers," said Michael Hurwitz, director of greenmarket for Grow NYC, which runs dozens of farmers' markets in New York City including the king-sized Union Square Market. "We are a very strict producer-only market."

Unless they're granted an exception – which would be for a product that's grown locally but not otherwise available at the market -- farmers not only must stick to what they grow, but they also have to be at their market booth a least 25 percent of the time and have someone intimately involved with farm production there for the rest.

The New York greenmarket has an inspection team to check that farms are growing what they claim; if something turns up at a market that shouldn't be there, Hurwitz said there's a process that could result in fines for the farmer. And if a farmer brings a product in from outside the region: "He's suspended immediately," Hurwitz said. "There's nothing to discuss."

What may be driving concern about reselling is the unprecedented growth of farmers' markets the last few years and people who are trying to get a piece of that profitable action. The U.S. Department of Agriculture tallied nearly 5,300 markets nationwide last year, but Stacy Miller, executive director of the three-year old non-profit Farmers Market Coalition based in West Virginia, thinks that's probably a very conservative number.

Miller said producer-only markets are more prevalent, especially as more and more markets are professionally run. "The issue is less with the common-sense principle of producer-only markets and more with the market organization itself to ensure it's upholding its own policy," she said. "How you actually enforce those kinds of standards is easier said than done."

Anecdotally, she said, the producer-only model appears to be well-entrenched in the Northeast and Northwest, with more historical reselling in the South, especially in old markets where long-standing sellers are grandfathered with whatever practices they've always had. "That trend is definitely on the downturn as consumer s get more savvy," she said. "Whatever you, do transparency is the key."

The folks who run CitySeed, the highly regarded farmers' market nonprofit in New Haven, Conn. couldn't agree more. Now in its seventh season, CitySeed has four citywide markets -- all producer-only with limited exceptions for reselling.

"We do that on a case by case basis and it's a rarity," said CitySeed Executive Director Erin Wirpsa Eisenberg. "It can come from another farmer only if it helps to diversify the offerings of the market and no other farmer has it."

CitySeed reserves the right to inspect farms and check receipts if a resale is permitted. And the state Department of Agriculture provides another level of oversight by requiring approved markets to only contain Connecticut grown produce.

And Wirpsa Eisenberg agrees with Hurwitz in New York that it's not as if there's a flood of fraudulent farm product. "My colleagues around the country are doing incredible work. I don't see this as being a problem," Hurwitz said. "I hate to use the saying, but a few bad apples leave everybody with a bad taste."

Filed Under: News
Tags: farmers market, farmers market coalition, greenmarket, grow nyc

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-30-2010 @12:35PM Jackie said... The farmer's market I go to allows resale, but it has to be clearly marked. The resale products have a different color sign and say where the products come from. I'm in Oklahoma and it seems like most of the resale products come from Texas. Hopefully we'll see more locally grown produce and less resale as the season continues.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

4-30-2010 @5:41PM Pennywhistler said... Let me see if I have this right. Under the headline "Farmer's Market Fakers" you tell me that the are no fakers. The markets won't allow them.

THAT is fakery, lady.

I am crossing THIS site off of my list, right now.
Reply