My partner, Yvonne Rynearson, and I took a bold step into the unknown by building a CSA farming operation called Trusted Earth Farm and Forage that couples baked goods prepared by us and fresh vegetables grown by us. We got involved in the farmer’s market scene since we have always enjoyed the social buzz, but soon discovered that not all food at a farmer’s markets was grown by the farmers selling it.

Collectively our work background has been primarily in the cooking and food distribution industry but our direction has since changed. We crossed each other’s path in the blossoming world of local Wisconsin agriculture known as the “driftless region”–due to the last glacial period’s inability to disrupt the soils of the time.

According to a 2007 study done by the USDA there were 4,685 farmer’s markets in the United States. That is an astonishing increase of 170% over the last ten years! This increase suggests that there is a very important movement happening all around us, spawned by a desire to bring food closer to home, support local family farms and to keep money in the community, rather than handing it over to a faceless corporate chain that makes no promises of reinvestment in the community. With constant news stories informing the masses of yet another food-borne illness, we are discovering a longing for a food system that can be trusted. Consumers are now seeking to directly connect themselves with the sources of the foods that sustain them and their families, and this is one of the many reasons why farmer’s markets have gained in popularity over the years. The eater gets to ask the grower the questions, learn about the struggles and successes of the growing season for every bunch of Kale they purchase, and they get to ask the grower what, exactly, should be done to prepare a kohlrabi or a celeriac. The eater can sometimes even visit the farm or participate in the harvest of the bounty, which brings them into the food system, thus helping them better appreciate the process of getting the food from seed to field to plate.

What I have discovered in my very first season is that things are not always as they seem at the farmer’s market. I began to notice that the person standing across table from me selling tomatoes, onions, or carrots did not grow their vegetables. I discovered vendors reselling produce bought from an outside source. This is an unfair market advantage, misleading to the consumer. I have always believed that farmer’s markets operated on the general assumption that the farmer sells their product to the customer. At least that is what I assumed when I was on the consuming end. Little did we know that we and several other growers were being slighted by those eager to make a quick buck in a growing marketplace. How is this happening? Why isn’t this being regulated to ensure a fair opportunity for all growers and producers to earn an honest dollar? What can be done about it?

In our part of the country there are produce auctions. These particular auctions are the fruits of labor of several farmers in the area. The Farmer grows their variety crops throughout the season and people gather one to two times per week to purchase those crops. Each lot of goods goes to the highest bidder. I spent a year distributing local foods to restaurants and grocers and have utilized some of the great produce coming out of these auctions. However, buyers for restaurants and grocers aren’t the only ones capitalizing on the bounty that these farmers bring to the auction. People that operate roadside produce stands generally shop for bottom dollar pricing on crops such as sweet corn and pumpkins. And now, we are realizing that some “farmers” are attending the auctions to buy for their farmer’s market booth. This is not the only avenue for vendors to outsource their products. Food moves back and forth all over our roads daily in the back of refrigerated vehicles and trucks heading for wholesale outlet centers. Some vendors take it upon themselves to intercept some of the goods along the route to ensure they have a full table at the next weekend market.

Every farmer’s market in the country has a set of rules and regulations for the vendors that participate in the market. Regulations vary, depending on the makeup of the vendors applying for a booth and the operating finances for that market. The consumer generally understands that the vendor selling them the product grew or made it themselves and basically has no reason to suspect otherwise. Sadly this is not true. Some markets allow vendors to buy in and resell produce and other goods at the market to ensure a diversified market place. They do this because they believe this will improve the overall look of the market. Some markets are very strict about being “produce only” markets and will go as far as visiting the farm to ensure that the food is actually coming from there. These markets are attempting to keep the integrity of the “farmer’s market” idea. The act of buying in bulk to sell is a very real scenario in farmer’s markets, and why not? They aren’t doing anything illegal. Are they doing an injustice?

The answer to that last question is, “maybe”. I know, not the answer you were hoping for, but for those of us looking for a more definite answer, we need to look no further than ourselves, the consumer. It is once again up to us to generate a wave of change in our food system. It is up to us organize our efforts to ensure we are being sold an honest idea. We decide who succeeds and who fails in the market place because we vote with our dollar. We need to take responsibility for our purchases at farmer’s markets by asking lots of questions. “Did you grow your own produce? Do you use organic growing methods?”

Choose to support the stands of the vendors that grow and make their own products and squeeze out the ones that are masquerading as stewards of an honest and direct food system. Ask your market manager to protect you from the imposters by offering full disclosure differentiating the buyer from the grower/producer. Start a petition at your local market to ensure accountability of the vendors and the market managers to the consumer. We ask for honesty in a food system that has led us astray for so long.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at 3:16 pm and is filed under Health & Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.