Farmers markets have become numerous and popular in my state. Most, maybe all, are so-called "certified", which means that the items offered for sale must have been produced by the people selling them. Employees of companies who did the production are of course allowed. No wholesale market procurement is allowed.

We're lucky in a sense that the state produces most kinds of produce at many or all times of the year, so the variety of things offered for sale is usually broad though seasonal.

I think prices are predictably higher than what's found in markets and the quality is not always higher. Many people I know are slavishly obsessed with farmers market shopping. Because of the variability we've experienced, it's something I've never quite understood.

At a local fm, there were two stands selling Jersey tomatoes. One was charging $6.99 a pound and the other $2.99. The tomatoes looked pretty much the same to me. Jersey tomatoes are pretty easy to identify and extremely delicious.

FWIW, there was an expose here some years back that revealed a number of so-called 'farmers' markets' were misrepresenting - i.e. scamming - consumers, selling produce that was purchased wholesale by the vendors and labelled as 'locally grown' on their non-existent farms.

Farmer markets prices are high where I live. We try to do U-pick or buy at the farms. Today we discovered that the new farm we found for corn also sells peaches, apples, pears, and vegetables, priced less than the grocery store.

Based on the imperfect look of the vegetables I saw today, and not massive amounts, I think these were all grown by the people selling. I have been to markets where it's obvious they bought from a supplier and have actually been told that by people selling. I've also seen documentaries about those really big markets in cities where sellers claim to grow everything they sell but when they're investigated, they were found out.

To put it bluntly, I think they're a rip-off. In my area they are very expensive, and the quality isn't any better than what I can get at the good groceries or produce markets for much less money.

DD1 has a Saturday morning farmer's market, where the attraction for her is the variety of apples that one vendor sells. Not just your Gala, Honeycrisp, Grannies, Delicious, etc., but all kinds of heirlooms that the supermarkets would never have. It's the grownup equivalent of going to the candy store and taking one of each kind. Are they expensive? Sure. But it's an opportunity to have a taste adventure.

A local gal on Nextdoor makes sourdough bread and sells it @ the Farmers Market. I might go to buy "her" bread....otherwise the supermarkets sell locally grown produce.

My wife bought some broccolini (one of my favorites) at the morning farmers market. It's a certified one so the stuff couldn't have travelled too far from where it was grown.

Reflecting back on words reserved for top quality greens, sweet and tender, this stuff was not sweet, a bit too large (left growing too long?), and chewy. I didn't say anything, her motivation to get it was nice. But typical of my experiences with farmers markets, even in this area with a lot of people who are food informed and discriminating in what they buy.

I always think the farmer's markets are priced too high. It makes no sense to me. They have no over head. They have no middle man. Why would they be more than a grocery store? We hear about 'price gauging' where super markets have a 1-2% profit margin. What is the profit margin at a Farmer's Market? Has to be huge in comparison. Locally sweet corn was .50$ an ear most of the summer. On a good week you could find it for .35$. I've seen a cart advertising in a store parking lot for a few years. This year I decided to give them a try. $1.00 an ear!!! DOUBLE what a store sells the same product for. I do not see the appeal of said markets and now I never will.

I don't go to farm stores and farmers' markets because I think the prices will be lower, I go because I want to support local small businesses rather than grocery store companies and their shareholders. I also find I can often buy in smaller quantities if I want, but this varies.

For instance, at 2 farmers markets I go to regularly in the summer, I go mostly to buy soup, sourdough bread, and pea shoots (microgreens). My favourite farm store sells their own produce, but also that of Ontario producers, and the location is always shown. Why do I pay more for their crops of corn rather than a grocery store or other farm market? Because I've tried a bunch, and theirs is consistently the better.

I haven't bought a grocery store tomato in years. The taste of a FM tomato is significantly different, as it was picked a day or so before my purchase, rather than a week. Plus the variety is different, more flavorful to me.

I try hard not to purchase lettuce, cabbage or onions at a grocery either, as there are frequent notices of contaminations of one kind or another. Small, mom & pop operations are less problematic for me and I'd rather pay a little more and support them.

Here in the midwest, I see the number of family farms dwindling and do have concerns for the next generation who would want to choose this lifestyle.

Interesting article in today's NYT about fertilizer used by farms made with municipal sludge containing very high levels of PFAS. The article is titled: 'Something’s Poisoning America’s Land. Farmers Fear ‘Forever’ Chemicals'. Perhaps small farms that have not used this sludge may find in the future that their crops may be preferred until the issue is solved, even with higher pricing.

The huge produce market near work that I occasionally shop at has oodles of locally-grown produce at great prices. Same with the small market here in my town. It's clearly marked as such. Even the grocery chains carry local stuff nowadays, at least around me they do. So I am supporting local growers and producers when I choose their items at the grocery, and I'm guessing that is where their bread and butter is -- the agricultural market like wholesalers, food processing plants, etc, not the farmer's markets. Sure, maybe hobby farmers rely on direct-to-consumer sales to support their farming activities, but the larger farms don't.

Arcy - I always think the farmer's markets are priced too high. It makes no sense to me. They have no over head. They have no middle man. Why would they be more than a grocery store

They have FARMS! Running a farm is very expensive and risky. I know some of our local farmers from my working at our local farmers market and it takes a lot to produce their goods. What a ridiculous thing to say.

And as it was stated above, I rather have something picked that morning from people I know whose quality is proven. It doesn't get any fresher than that.

Arcy, why do you think they have no overhead? Of course they do! Compost, seeds, fertilizer, water if there's no rain. I grow a lot of my produce and it's expensive. We're in a drought and my water bill last month was over $120 which is normally under $40. This month's bill is $90. I bought a truckload of compost last Spring and it was expensive. Cheaper than the bagged stuff, but still expensive.

I still don't think that cushaw should cost $16!

Mystical Manns, I haven't either. I just don't eat fresh tomatoes through the Winter, unless I'm in a restaurant and eat a salad there. My tomatoes have done horribly this year. I have a few bags of frozen ones now but only my Sungolds really did good this year.

I now live in a small town in CA. The farmers who come to our FM have at minimum a 3 hour drive, often more. Then they have to set up, sell for the 5 hours the FM runs, then pack up and drive home. The amount of time they spend just that one day is a lot!

And that doesn't take into account running a farm, growing various items, and all of their overhead, as others have detailed above.

The produce we are fortunate to get is soooo much better than what is available in our local grocery stores overall. And that's not including the amazing fish and meat options, local honey and baked goods, and locally made items also.

There seems to be a disconnect from reality about prices and quality between farmers markets and mechanized corporate farming available at supermarkets. I would never sell product at a farmers market at or below supermarket prices or it would be a waste of my time, and better utilized just getting a job If I was chasing easier money.

These small producers are not getting rich to say the least and risk of loss is medium to high. Sweet corn input costs before harvest can reach $1000 per acre and it requires a lot of sunshine and 746,000 gallons of water to grow great tasting sweet corn. Farmer markets are not free to the producers and require licensing and permits depending on the state and there are fees to rent space at the market.

There are scams and Kath has pointed out how they work. It's best to form a relationship with quality producers and stick with them to avoid the scammers, but don't brow beat them to death about a price because they've invested much more time and money then people would believe.. Arcy if you ever had my sweet corn you'd pay a $1 per ear and come back for more the next day, there is a difference.

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" They have FARMS! Running a farm is very expensive and risky "

Absolutely! Farming is a hard life, financially and emotionally. Their suicide rate is over twice the national (US) average, and male farmers' risk of cardiovascular disease is greater than that of equal age in other occupations.

And on the other end, don't supermarkets buy in large lots - usually from contracted brokers, which makes for lower per unit pricing?

Seems it's basically the same way the big box stores out-compete local stores on prices.

Slavery ended long ago. Whatever the lifestyle of a farm owner is or isn't, whatever the benefits versus hardships and demands are or aren't, life is about making choices. Sometimes people make poor choices and get stuck. I can feel sorry for unfortunate people who are victims of others or suffer because of unfortunate circumstances. I don't spend a moment of concern about people who make poor choices and bad decisions when they have alternatives.

(It's a completely different story when thinking about farm workers. In my area, often poor, uneducated and with limited resources, they eke out an existence as best they can. I respect their hard work and think we should do more for them.)

Ignorance at its best!

Farmers markets are priced a little higher than a grocery store...but only a few cents. Yes I can afford to shop a FM, but I just don't have the time or find the experience that enjoyable. I do go...but maybe once a Summer. I'm not the target market. I also don't attend craft fairs or belong to Costco. How many of you have a Prime membership? There are a LOT of different shopping venues out there.

I quite favor Farmer's Markets. WA state is also a big agricultural area and better groceries DO carry "local" produce.......but not necessarily that local and always from larger wholesalers who can supply the volume. FM's in my area focus on smaller, mom and pop or truck farm operations and very local - typically within the county limits. I like visiting them for the cut flowers, jams. jellies and preserves, homemade cheeses, berries, apples and pears the big grocers don't carry, baked goods, crafts and food trucks/stands.

I would not consider them a replacement for my regular groceries but more of an occasional indulgence and so I pay little attention to the prices. IMO, that's not the point of them - not to shop for bargains - although you may well find some.

I recall the farmers market in Santa Monica had so many unusual fruits and veggies - in quantities that wouldn't have be large enough for grocery stores.

I actually like wandering around farmer's markets. I tried to do it for a short time myself when I lived down south. I hadn't been to the one in Frankfort in at least 15 years or more. All I remember is that my kids were kids the last time I went. It's very small, maybe 10 vendors. The one in my little town, I think had 4 vendors.

I attempted to go to one in Lexington quite a few years ago but being downtown, I got frustrated trying to find parking nearby and just gave up. I wish we had a better one with easy access parking.

Here in rural Missouri, farmers’ markets are common. It’s also common for people to set up shop in the back of their pickup truck parked on the main street in town or in the Walmart parking lot to sell, for instance, tomatoes, sweet corn, mums, or pumpkins. I do not buy from them because they are cheaper - I buy from them because their produce is better. (I want some zucchini now but I won’t pay for them though. In a couple more weeks there will be so many zucs available that people give them away.)

My neighbor and her sister started a small lavender growing operation on about 4 acres and sell lavender flowers, food stuffs like jellies, and candles, etc. Nice products, but not especially cheap.

No overhead?? LOL. Have you checked land prices recently? Fine agricultural land is at a premium; two years ago a small farm in Iowa sold for $30,000 an acre. I believe it was about 73+ acres of cropland only, no building, house, etc. That’s a hefty overhead of approximately $2.2 million.

Arcy, you truly believe no overhead? You’ve seriously GOT to be kidding if you think someone growing a product for sale on a smaller scale had no overhead! Some have already commented on your post, so no reason for me to echo my thoughts here.

I don’t grow to sell anything, but do give away to neighbors what we don’t consume. Like Kath, i have to purchase seed (or sometimes plants), fertilizer, mulch, monitor for insects, provide water and labor (mine) to bring baskets of produce to the table.

I much prefer to buy from a couple of local farmer’s markets that are regulated or certified to be selling locally grown produce. One in particular is close to us and has peach trees and strawberry fields within sight of their facility. You can walk around outside their building and see squash growing. Maybe some is grown in other fields you can’t see or they truck it in from other growers. I do know the quality is very good, even if the prices are sometimes a little higher than the local grocery store. And that is worth a lot to me.

This conversation is munging together definitions without knowing what they are. Overhead is indirect costs incurred no matter whether something happens or doesn't. Rent on premises serving multiple purposes. Administration. The like.

What I think some of your are referring to is direct costs. How much does it cost to produce and sell a specific item or lot? How much does it cost to produce more to serve more markets? These are direct costs, not overhead.

The economics of producers selling at farmers markets are simple. Selling to normal customers, that happens at discounted wholesale rates, those customers sell onward at a higher price - retail.

Selling to people walking through the farmers market - that's a retail sale to an end user. A higher price than wholesale, more margin, greater contribution to profit.

I buy in the summer season from a local farm. I have been shopping at this farm for probably almost 30 years. It is about a 20 minute trip out to the farm and I go about once a week.

The prices are not cheap. This year lots of things are selling for around three fifty to abour four fifty per pound on most things.

We enjoy buying this way and consider it to be a luxury to have.

They sell only thier own produce and a few things that they get from other local growers, such as bunches of fresh cilantro or maybe garlic.

The farm sells from early June with some early greens and progresses into summer vegetables, peaches, sweet corn, squash, melons, tomatoes, peppers into Fall with greens again, beets, pumpkins, beans and an extraoridnary array of apples.

Apples, peaches and sweet corn are the stars and our area is abundant with them. There is one place where I can buy the sweet corn right out of the field.

They also will sell local eggs and they used to sell milk from a local dairy, but not this year.

This is really and truely out in the farm country, not in a town.

My daughter shops at one in a small town in Virginia and they are pretty good and true about where it is grown. There are some grow houses that are local and will have some things early and if it comes from a grow house and not a traditional field it is made known. It is still local. They also have some local meats there and some local bakers.

but I go to the actual farm and they know me after all these years.

It is a luxury, not cheap, at all. I would rather have less and have quality than to have a lot of lesser quality.

Like most things in life, there are levels of quality and access. I can go to a different local farmers market almost every day (except Monday) of the week here. They all have different rules about the vendors they accept. Only a few vendors are at more than one market each week. The one I worked for, in my little neighborhood, mandates that the vendors are within 100 miles, are certified organic if they are selling that way. The number of vendors selling the same thing (e.g. eggs, meat, etc) is limited. So there are a lot of criteria to be met to be accepted. And yes, the vendors pay a fee for the season. Other markets around here work differently. And like, Annie Carter, there are two farms within a 15 minutes from me that I could buy directly. They produce meat, eggs, dairy, produce, flowers. All freshly picked each day. You can buy into a CSA that will give you a portion of things each week, including cutting your own fresh flowers. Owning and maintaining a farm is expensive, some more than others depending on what they produce.