Growers and Grocers

Get the year off to a good start by resolving to shop at farmers’ markets more often in 2006. Once a month, twice a month, or every week: It doesn’t matter, just do it.

Here’s why:

1. The food tastes better. When a farmer sells to a large buyer, s/he has to harvest the produce before its prime so that it’s not rotten when it arrives at the final destination. When a farmer comes to a market, s/he can find the ripest, most ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables to sell to you.
2. It keeps money in the local economy. When you shop at a grocery store, a portion of the money you spend goes to the company’s distant headquarters. Another portion goes to the distributor who sold the food to the store. Very little goes to the farmer or your community. When you buy at a farmers’ market, the money goes straight to the grower, who then spends it on goods from other local businesses.
3. It’s good for the national economy. In this country, most farmers have to sell to a handful of large corporate buyers. The companies demand prices that don’t cover a farmer’s cost, but growers can’t rebel since then they won’t be able to sell their crop at all. This keeps the nation’s farmers in perpetual debt, reliant on government subsidies that our taxes fund—many of which don’t go to small farms anyway. A farmers’ market purchase helps a small farmer break this destructive cycle. (see George Pyle’s Raising Less Corn, More Hell for a complete look at the importance of small farms for our country’s agricultural future.)