The Value of having a Farmers Market Within the Community

Everybody benefits from supporting their local farmers market.  It's easy to do, especially when the market has multiple vendors offering a good variety and is close to your home.  When you support your local farmers' market, you are supporting something much greater than you imagine.

The Fiber of the Community

Local farmers markets have the unique ability to bring locals together by providing  a lively, family friendly environment that everyone can enjoy. 

Local produce; crafts; vegan, vegetarian, and mainstream food options; desserts; clothing and more can be found at your local farmers market.  In a way it should be called a Community market as it represents a segment of your town coming together offering their best products for everyone to consume and enjoy.

Business Incubators

Building the local economy begins at the farmers market.  New small businesses often begin their journey here in order to test the market with their products.  The level of success many of them find at the market will decide if they go on to open  a local store front.  The merchants that move to a brick and mortar space will  look to hire local help.  This is something that often gets overlooked but is very important to keep in mind as you support your local farmers market.  The success of the small business merchants will spill over to the economical success of your town.

Tourist Attraction

Tourist will come from far and wide to visit your town because of your beautiful beaches,  your beautiful rivers or your grand mountains.  One way of exposing tourists to the local people and culture is through the farmers markets. 

Tourists often look to find the local farmers markets and see for themselves the  produce and arts that are not necessarily available at your traditional malls.  These folks want to take as much as they can from their experience in your town and what better way to do so than at the local, friendly farmers' market.

One more attraction for tourists are local farms which gives your guests a refreshing perspective on how food is grown locally.  We wrote a blog post on the tours we offer of our urban farm and we were amazed on how many great friends we made thanks to them.

Better Prices

Way too often the price point is overlooked.  Local products, especially produce are immune to the price shifts in the general market as they are transported a very short distance to arrive at their destination.

The abundance of what is grown locally will determine the price point for the consumer since the grower has a higher incentive to sell their excess produce at reasonable prices.  Produce brought from outside your area will come with higher prices due to transport costs and tariffs. 

Fresher Produce

Produce grown locally will have a shorter time lapse between harvest and consumption. With shorter distances and transport time, fresh produce will always be available at your local farmers' market.  Since local produce spends very little time from harvest to market, it provides the consumer the highest levels of nutrition possible.

Local produce also provides the consumer with less risk of contamination.  You hear about produce contamination on the news a lot lately. The handling of produce by various parties becomes a complicated process that can become harmful to consumers when not done properly.  The transportation process is not always as simple as it may seem, refrigerated trucks may malfunction or produce experiences drastic changes in temperature from one stop to another. By purchasing your produce at the local farmers' market, you have the opportunity to meet the people growing your food and see first hand how they grow it. A great excuse to make new friends and learn something new.   

To be the first to know of our latest videos be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Chanel to watch them all as they come out. Thank you for reading and we appreciate you sharing this with friends.