Farmers' Market Managers Say Business Is Up

Photo:fkehren/Flickr/Creative Commons License

In February, the Los Angeles Times published an article asking, "Has the farmers market movement peaked?" The piece mentioned a study from the Department of Agriculture showing a dramatic decrease in farmers' market sales, with sales in L.A. County dipping by "almost 43% in real dollars between 2007 and 2012." (A subsequent correction clarified that the 43% statistic was actually sales from farmers to markets, as opposed to sales coming from the market itself. It's an important distinction, but one that still implies a downward trend.)

The piece suggested that the end was nigh for farmers' market expansion, an idea that makes sense to anyone following this trend. There has been a substantial increase in the number of farmers' markets in business over the last decade, that's without question. And with any peak comes a valley. So, you know, it's reasonable to think the movement is, at the very least, slowing down.

But do farmers' market managers agree?

"I can't say we've seen a downward trend," says James Haydu, Executive Director of SEE-LA, which operates eight farmers' markets in the L.A. area. "We have not seen a decrease in sales or attendance."

In fact, Haydu says, their markets have grown, particularly in the underserved communities of L.A. Among the big reasons? Programs like MarketMatch, which allows EBT users to double their buying power if they use their EBT cards at the markets. "That program is having a significant impact statewide, and we've seen that in our markets."

Diana Rodgers, manager of the Mar Vista Farmers' Market, is skeptical about the USDA numbers quoted in the piece. "I'm not sure how they're gathering their data," she says. But more than that, she believes that it's important to point out that its mostly newer markets that may be having financial issues. "The older, high quality markets are doing well," says Rodgers. "Newer start-up markets are having a harder time as there are only so many farmers to serve all of the locations."

One relatively new market is the Wellington Square Farmers Market, which just celebrated its fifth anniversary. While it has yet to be a profitable venture, the market has no plans of shutting down anytime soon. "We're here to stay so folks can get farm fresh produce and our vendors can make a little money," wrote Lora Davis, one of the market's managers. Cynthia Ojeda, Executive Director of the MNP Farmers' Market, believes this long-term outlook to market managing is what's missing from new entries into the field.

"It has gotten to be a super popular, trendy thing, which attracts a lot of people that don't know what they're doing, and coming for the wrong reasons," says Ojeda. "You're providing your community with a service, you're not out to make millions of dollars for yourself. With the explosion of the farmers' market culture, this mentality has not always remained consistent with those opening up new markets. "Some people think they're going to sit back and it's going to boom. You have to put in a ton of work."

That work includes more than simply making a map and filling out where vendors are stationed for the afternoon. It means physically going to farms, meeting and interviewing farmers, building relationships with inspectors, telling them to check certain farms if things don't seem right, and keeping their eyes out for market cheaters. It's a lot of work, and it takes time for many markets to make enough money to become self-sustaining. (The Wellington Square market, for instance, is helped out by sponsorships from several non-profits.)

But with fly-by-night markets failing, the impression is that the entire industry is becoming over-saturated."They leave this trail of destruction," said Ojeda. "They open it, don't invest in it, don't stick with it, and they close it." But, Ojeda says, if managers are smart and they stick through the initial rough patch, success will come soon enough.

"My sales are up, they're not down," says Ojeda. "And my farmers are doing really well. They're actually seeing increases. The community is learning who the good markets are and who the bad markets are."