yet another food topic--Farmer's Markets

OK, so I'm going to try to get another food topic started.I am really itching for spring to come so I can start to buy local produce.Does anyone else support local agriculture by shopping at farmer's markets, visiting farm stands, or buying a share in a farm's harvest?

I love the local Farmer's Market but have to admit I don't go there much since I'm only feeding myself and I'm lazy. SO much better stuff than you find in the regular market.This message has been edited by Faith, 03-22-2006 02:15 PM

Whenever I can get it.My big peeve right now is not so much produce as meat.
Our local supermarket suppliers (we only have two) are all polluting their products with a 12-14 % phosphate salt solution to "enhance moisture". Phoooey. The locals don't even seem to notice, but I won't buy the stuff - it tastes salty too. The kicker is, you have to pay a premium price to get "all natural" pork or "Smart Chicken" (kind of tells you something about the other chicken, doesn't it?).So the damn food-processing industry is now charging us extra to NOT contaminate our food. Makes me furious. Corporate America is truly responsible for the poor state of health most people have in this country.This message has been edited by EZscience, 03-22-2006 02:31 PM

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you have to pay a premium price to get "all natural" pork or "Smart Chicken"

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I look at it another way.It's not that you are "paying a premium" for meat produced without shortcuts.It's that you get a discount if you are willing to sacrifice quality.

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So the damn food-processing industry is now charging us extra to NOT contaminate our food. Makes me furious. Corporate America is truly responsible for the poor state of health most people have in this country.

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This is only partly true.We are also responsible for the businesses and business practices we support with our spending.That's why I do not shop at Wal-Mart. Ever.

Hi SchrafinatorI live in Amish country in Northeast Ohio. Our local Sparkle and Giant Eagle markets buy locally to compete with Walmart who trucks all there stuff in. No comparison. And if that isn't good enough, there's a Farmer's Market auction every Wednesday plus local roadside stands up the kazots!I can get fresh farm raised beef, pork and poultry from many local neighbors. The barter system is alive and well. Some pork chops for a ride to town? Sure.(:raig

Yes, for natural 'organic' production I agree a premium is justified for the greater costs of production involved.But in this case you are essentially paying the same company extra to NOT comtaminate your food. And look at it this way - they are actually getting to sell salt water by weight for the price of meat!
It should not be allowed by law, but the food industry lobbyists have the FDA in their pockets. They are no better than the pharmaceutical companies.

Stop - you're making me jealous.
I used to be able to do that kind of thing all the time when I lived in rural British Columbia.

I agree again. But if your local comnunity does not contain discerning shoppers, you end up screwed. I don't like Walmart either, but it is the only place to get decent produce here a lot of the time. We can't even get decent whole grain breads or imported cheeses at our other supermarket anymore because no one else buys them. I end up making my own bread and ordering my specialty cheeses from - you guessed it - Zingerman's.

Good for you. It's nice to read that someone else feels as I do. I've told friends that if Wal-Mart were giving away $10,000 checks and a free plasma-screen TV just for shopping there...I still wouldn't set foot in their store. I despise Wal-Mart and everything they stand for.You would think that living out in the boonies (and the potato capital of Michigan), we'd have plenty of farmers markets. Surprising, we have none. However, the town I work in does have a farmers market every Thursday at one of the local parks. We do get some stuff there, but it has gotten considerable smaller and considerably poorer in quality over the last couple if years.But still, as you all know...cuz I have mentioned it before...the best market my wife and I shop at is right out our back door. It doesn’t get any fresher than growing and/or “harvesting” it yourself.

I like to go pick the onions right after my buddy sprays them in this:My airplane club owns 11 acres in the middle of thousands of acres of onion fields. Not just onions, but they grow all sorts of stuff. There is also a local butcher there that makes there own jerky and kielbasa. Other stuff too.They have an onion parade every other year, oh joy!

Ah, lovely.I would encourage you to buy directly from the farmers as much as you can rather than from the Sparkle and other grocery stores which sell local products.It means that the farmer makes more money, and it's very important that we keep small local farmers in business.

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But in this case you are essentially paying the same company extra to NOT comtaminate your food. And look at it this way - they are actually getting to sell salt water by weight for the price of meat!
It should not be allowed by law, but the food industry lobbyists have the FDA in their pockets. They are no better than the pharmaceutical companies.

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Oh, I didn't quite understand what you were saying before.Yes, I agree with your assesment of the FDA.At Zingerman's we had all sorts of problems with the importation of really fine food products. Half the time they would reject products because they just didn't know what they were.There is an Italian chocolate manufacurer which used to be called Cuba-Venchi after several family names, but they had to change their name to just "Venchi" because, you guessed it, the morons at Customs thought the stuff was illegaly shipped from Cuba to the US via Italy.It didn't matter that all of their paperwork was good, etc.Dolts.

Yes, it's getting harder and harder for the local producer and the small hobby farmer. My ex-wife is one of the latter - has had nightmares over senseless bird flu panics in BC - not being allowed to sell any of her organic chickens even though they were perfectly healthy.To make matters worse, the commodity groups representing large farming interests are putting more and more funding into 'value-added' research (read more food processing and contamination for increased profit) and taking money out of 'production-oriented' research. That includes funding for the kind of research I do that seeks more environmentally friendly production and pesticide alternatives.

Logistics...
Sparkle buys from local farmers who only have to truck their produce a few miles AND / OR Sparkle has a buyer at Wednesday's Farmer's Market sale and buys wholesale on the spot.Roadside stands are quaint, but the real money comes from wholesale operations to Sparkle (good profits for the farmers) or direct to big city (Cleveland / Columbus / Akron / Youngstown) restaurants (GREAT profits for the farmers). Fruit and vegetable farming in this area is developing into a good niche market.A word about WalMart in Ohio. The Meat Packers union in Ohio had enough clout to prevent WalMart from setting up in-house non-union butcher counters. So, there aren't any. EVERYTHING; fruits, veggies and meats are trucked in from some other place, ususally out-of-state. Amish farmers know they can get a better price for dealing directly with local grocers and the public, so they don't bother with WalMart.(:raig