[FMC] Alternative market structure?

Fri Apr 25 18:01:24 EDT 2008

The South East Area Farmers' Market in Grand Rapids Michigan is a very
small market in a low-income section of a city which has a huge, very
popular farmers' market now considering not if but how to expand.

Most of the farmers would prefer, if they can get in, to focus
exclusively on the larger market. In addition, there is what I will
call prejudice about the place we're located. Some farmers who are in
sympathy with us are/were still unable to come for various reasons.

When we started out 5 years ago we got a couple farmers to agree to
come and they did fairly well, but the following summer the best we
could do was go and buy the produce at a discount from some local
farmers, bring it in and sell it ourselves. This worked all right
(though it didn't make for a very healthy-looking market) and we made
a profit, which at least helped out with publicity when, after a
summer off due to road construction, we relocated and opened again.

Two-three farmers and some miscellaneous other sellers have stuck with
us and I believe will again this summer. However, last year we also
started a program where a woman we've partnered with on other things
came and sold hand-stitched reusable shopping bags, and some of her
kids went out to a farm and picked produce and then sold it. It was
fairly lucrative for them, good for the farmer, and the customers were
happy with it. In the meantime, the customer base has grown, so at
least one of the farmers makes a fair amount of money most weeks.

We really tried to get something more official going, as mentioned by
Zach Lyons, where the students would have a direct relationship with
the farm and the farmer and the produce. But we hoped community
members would step up to the plate and find the youth to be involved,
and that didn't happen.

We also continue to sell, as a sideline, produce from some farmers we
know who are busy elsewhere. They generally charge us a discounted
price and let us take any profits, but some we have to keep track of
what we sell and reimburse them, and return unsold produce to them.

I have talked to others from farmers' market who have done the same
thing with reselling on behalf of the farmers.

All in all I think it adds to the menu of things to do to keep a
farmers' market viable, but I'm used to thinking inner city, and I
know others don't face those same problems.

Cynthia Price
Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 1:15 PM, Zachary Lyons <zach at cowswithguns.com> wrote:
>  Allowing FFA or 4-H kids to experience the reality that there is money to
> made in farming, not just shows to go to with livestock, is a good way to
> encourage our future farmers.  However, perhaps connecting a couple students
> with one farm, with the expectation that the money is going back to the
> farm, and they are an employ of the farm, might address several issues.
> First, the students would have to get intimate with that particular farm so
> that they can represent it properly, like any farm employee at a market.
> Second, they would treat the sales, and the prices, as if they were making
> money for a farm, thus learning those economics.  Third, the farm itself
> would get to see how much revenue the market is generating for them, so
> maybe they will eventually attend directly.  Finally, it would keep that
> farm stall in line with the other farm stalls there -- the ones where the
> farm is actually showing up.
>
> Also, remind farmers that they get more than $$ from the market.  They get
> appreciation from the customers, socialization, and a sense of community,
> all intangibles yes, but all vital to the health of our farmers who often
> live isolated lives.
>
> Zach Lyons
> Seattle
>
>
>
> On Apr 25, 2008, at 7:01 AM, Michael Hurwitz wrote:
>
>
>
>
> I've done that with a few youth markets where the youth are trained in ag
> and marketing and then resell farmers products purchased at wholesale or
> reduced pricing. If other farmers come to market have them set the bottom
> price.
>
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: fmc-bounces at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org
> <fmc-bounces at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org>
>  To: fmc at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org
> <fmc at lists.farmersmarketcoalition.org>
>  Sent: Fri Apr 25 09:55:24 2008
>  Subject: [FMC] Alternative market structure?
>
>  Hello,
>
>  I am involved in helping to start a farmers' market in the coalfields of
> southern West Virginia.  There is high consumer demand for a market, but
> producers here typically give away their surplus produce.  I have talked to
> farmers who are interested in having a farmers' market, but who aren't
> really interested in going there and staffing their own booth.  It seems
> like they would rather either donate their produce to a group (like 4-H)
> that could sell it as a fundraiser at the market, or sell their produce at a
> reduced price to a middle-person or organization that would then resell it
> at the market.  Has anyone done anything like this in their markets?  Any
> ideas on how having this scenario would affect any future producers that
> might want to sell directly at the farmers' market?
>
>  Thank you for your time,
>
>  Ole Bye
>
>  Rural Appalachian Improvement League
>
>  Mullens, WV
>
>  groundworkWC at railwv.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>          Ole Bye
>
>  Program Coordinator
>
>  Groundwork Wyoming County
>
>  Rural Appalachian Improvement League
>
>  P.O. Box 171, Mullens, WV, 25882
>
>  304-294-6188
>
>  groundworkWC at railwv.org <mailto:groundworkWC at railwv.org>
>
>  www.railwv.org <http://www.railwv.org>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing the matter with this,
> except that it ain't so.
>
>  MARK TWAIN, Mark Twain's Notebooks
>
>
>
>
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