I worry abvoutr local markets because it's not clear to me who monitors sanitation and safety of the produce being sold. As an extreme, example, how do I know the farmer didn't drench his greens in Malathion that morning? On a national level, I assume FDA monitors produce quality and safety, but I don't believe that's the case at our local farmers' market.

So for me, it's home produce all the time.

Some farmer's markets also import veges and other goods from elsewhere. Notice if something is out of season for your area? Ask!
Customers can buy so many things in the supermarket, they seem to expect the same at the local farm stand. If they are not gardeners, they might have no clue what is really in season. So some small local markets try to fill in those gaps to please customers who don't care or don't know.
Bluebars

I think the major difference is that everything from the garden is picked minutes before dinner. Guys at the farmer market will sell you stuff that is 3 days old.

I think it all depends on what's being sold. As pointed out above, some vendors sell things that were previously harvested and held. Markets vary in their policies, too. Some only allow actual farmers to sell things that they have grown. Others are anything goes and allow vendors to sell commercial produce.

As much as I enjoy going to the really big Eastern Market in Detroit, much of the produce their is commercially produced and shipped in from Mexico, California, Florida, Chile, etc., same stuff you can buy in the grocery stores, but at least the prices tend to be a little better to sometimes a lot better.

My fruit is far better eating quality than most farmers markets I've bought from. I think there is more difference in eating quality between fruits from different sources than many vegetables. I'm sure many will disagree here so this is JMO.

I'd be concerned as stated above that farmer's market produce may have as much or more pesticide than store bought. And just asking the grower is no assurance, people lie about this stuff all the time.

"Is home grown better than farmers' market produce?"

Not always. Our local farmers market always have produce a month or two ahead of my garden. They also carry a huge variety which I can't grow in my limited space (for example, root vegetables). However, like others already mentioned, from the home garden, I pick when they're ripen, and when needed. So convenience and freshness definitely is better than the farmers market. I also plant a few things that aren't always sold at our local farmers market.

But I did notice a few vendors are simply selling refrigerated veggies from paper boxes. They're no different from any supermarket. After a few years, I know to avoid these vendors and go for the ones that carry true locally grown produce.

OK, so one plus of home-grown produce is that you know it's fresh and grown without pesticides.

Suppose you compare fresh, pesticide-free farm produce with your home-grown. Will the home-grown still win?

Think of it this way. Not everything I grow is perfect. There are other growers who grow certain things that are better than I can grow. I have not met a grower yet who is perfect. The only real advantage is the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

If you only have one type of soil you will never be able to grow everything perfectly. There are a few vegetables (say, winter squash) that do not lose any flavor in four months of storage. Expanding to fruits, many apples become better with one to four months storage, pears must be stored for 2+ weeks, and cardoon needs to be stored under leaves for 3 weeks or more.

But except for winter squash, I think I can tell a 3-day old vegetable, any vegetable, from anything just-picked in my garden. Even super-storage Copra onions, or storage potatoes, taste better when just picked.

Where I live now (small town America)There seems to be little if any difference We all have the same soil etc. Most people buy in bulk for canning, pickling, freezing, and grow their every day eating vegetables in there own gardens. The growers are well known. Who is organic, who says they are organic, who uses very few chemicals. Who grows the best cantaloupe etc. If you want fresh bulk items you can give them a call and pick up at their garden or the market
Now when I lived in Dallas. In my postage sized clay yard no way could I grow fresh fruit and vegetables like the farmers market. also the type of produce there was way better varieties than the food stores and picked at a way riper stage of growth. I almost forgot my container tomatoes and peppers were as good as the markets

Curt

I'm not sure whether or not I agree but there is a school of thought that says the closer to you the food is grown the healthier it will be for you. You can't get any closer than your back yard.

Well, I try to grow as much as I can, but this year is a bust here in "sunny California"!
The county I live in is very organic and Ag oriented. We are also "THE WINE COUNTRY" NOT NAPA!
We have farmers markets pretty much 7 days a week, one in each town.
If someone was found to be non-organic and didn't post that on their booth, they would be gone.
We do get some outsiders in the spring that come up from the hot central valley with organic fruits.
Most of the "farm stand stores" have been in the area for generations (in fact my cousins are related to most of them!)
I do like corn picked about 10 seconds before you plop it in the water, herbs right out the back door, sungold tomatoes right off the plant, swiss chard as a last minute addition to a soup.
But on the whole, I think our farmers markets are pretty right on!

"THE WINE COUNTRY" NOT NAPA!

LOL, howdy neighbor.

Ditto what NancyJane said. I can only add that my garden is cheaper. We paid an arm and a leg last time we bought vegetables at the farmer's market. Though I do stop at the strawberry stand on my way home from work. They are worth every penny.

"Suppose you compare fresh, pesticide-free farm produce with your home-grown. Will the home-grown still win? "

I think that a farmer can potential grow better produce, however, once picked, nutritional values only decrease. Harvest to eating time - the home garden wins every time.

Make sure your soil is top notch, and there just isn't the ability for a farm to touch the home grower, due to time to table....

Now - against the home grower.....those of us in more urban setting probably have more environmental pollutants to deal with. In the soil - in the air - in the municipal water supply. These are concern for me.

Well, in my case -- what is available in 1 booth at a farmers' market IS what is coming from my garden . . .

Market booths and farmers' markets are so variable in what is being offered. That is certainly what has been said and what I am aware of.

One thing that hasn't quite been said has to do with grading. Plants under stress do not have as good a flavor as something that is happily and healthfully growing. If a vendor is bringing any old junk that he finds, that can be bad news for the customer who only knows that he wants a "turnip" or whatever.

Keep in mind, however, that return customers are critically important for a FM vendor. If he is selling junk, he won't be able to do it for long.

Steve

i grow a few things that are hard, or impossible, to find in local markets. Things like Okinawan Spinach and shell beans. So there is no comparison.

My cherry tomatoes are great, but i don't have a greenhouse so i buy slicers from local growers who do. Again, no comparison. So part of the answer depends on the skill and resources of the farmer and of the gardener.

The rest of the answer lies iwth the taste buds of the consumer. Our carrots don't taste like the ones we buy. Not as sweet and with a more complex flavor. For us it is almost like a new vegetable but maybe someone else would not like them.

You don't have to grow your own food for it to be good. But just because you buy it from the local farmer's market is no guarantee. Get to know your local farmers so you can choose which ones to support. They need us.

We have been scoping out local farmer's markets here, and went to a small one last weekend. Most of the booths weren't selling produce at all, and of the produce that was for sale, much of it was commercial stuff that I could have gotten at my supermarket. So it really does matter what your FM vendors sell.

The premise, I think, was that the food was coming from a local farmer. Those you describe are strictly speaking not farmer markets.

Our Farmers market seem to grow,mostly Hybrids.

It is fairly well-documented in some Planning circles that Farmers' Markets as a marketing tool - selling pre-made value-added consumer goods in addition to or in replacement of local produce - may be an issue in some places. Sure they are farmers' markets. Adding value-added goods for consumer consumption doesn't take the name away. The issue is do they crowd out produce?

Second, if you are a poor gardener, there is a decent chance your crop won't taste as good as someone who knows what they are doing. So the subject heading is too simplistic to answer in any other way than 'it depends'.

Dan

I think farmer's market produces as fresh, I don't always beleive they are organic. Home grown produces are organic, fresh, and tasty. The melons that I grew this year unsurpassed any melons that I have tasted.

Home grown CAN be better than farmers' market. It can be a bit fresher and a person can grow their favorite varieties all the time. Yes, I like my own watermelons best.

I find that the satisfaction of growing myown food and putting it up for winter makes my own food taste so much better. I am sure that thereisn't much difference in the product but it does seem that the farmers market has much more perfect tomatoes than I have. It could be that they only sell their best and I see all of ours good and bad.

You got that billy_b. The worst don't make the markets.....odd shaped, small, or such. I get a lot of sweetpotatoes, potatoes, and watermelons that are either small or lumpy.

It really depends on the farmer's market.

I love my farmer's market. The vendors have to have grown the stuff themselves, and they have to be certified organic.

I consider it to be the next best thing to homegrown. I use my FM as a backup for my garden. There are some things I can't grow myself, like tree fruits or eggs, and sometimes I mess up and have a lousy crop of something just due to my own error (like I set out plants too early and they froze or something). The FM is great to fill in those gaps.

Home grown is probably better. It's certainly cheaper. But the FM is usually better than the grocery store, as long as it's a "real" farmer's market where you're buying directly from small farms. I think farmer's markets are very valuable for people who don't have the means to grow all their own produce but still want to eat fresh, locally grown, organic produce.

"It really depends on the farmer's market."

True that. If all else fails and you have a big market, but no real idea what's going on...try to find a market manager(s) and if they're not busy or in the middle of something they can answer some questions or tell you about what's there.

They can be tricky and varied, especially the rules on what can be sold there and where it has to be from (some allow outside produce when off-season...some don't at all...some allow it year-round).

You can get fresh stuff as good or almost as good as home grown. It is easy to spot the them if you know what to look for. They will have varieties that you will never see at the supermarket. Like the beautiful light lavender eggplants one farmer had, or another with unusual peppers. One grower always comes with a wide array of plums, etc. Another way to know is they will know the names of the varieties they have grown(unless it is their kid waiting on you.)
Many of the small local growers around here a very proud of their produce and are not dousing their crops with chemicals either.Often though little growers are not going to be certified organic because of the cost involved though they may be organic. Quite a few growers around here participate in the IPM(integrated pest management) program through Cornell so though not organic, it is much better then before.
Remy

There are farmer's markets and then there farms that sell from their own "market." I had the good fortune to visit one of the latter ones earlier this year in a rural area north of Richmond and the difference between what they had and what is available at my local farmer's market was dramatic. The market near us sells veggies that look exactly like those in the grocery store at the same or higher prices. The rural farm market had a beautiful selection of a wide variety of vegetables and fruit in season. Everything I bought was excellent, better than my own in this extremely hot and dry summer, and far superior to the closer market and the grocer.

So like has been said earlier, it depends.

Sandy