Supporting your local Farmers' Markets

I don't know about you, but I am getting heartily sick of being dictated to by my local supermarket. Being one of the two duopolies that have something like a 70% (Australian) market share between them, I've become increasingly annoyed by the disappearance of many items from the shelves in the past few years, and the increasing dominance of the various "in house" brands. I gather that their intention is to offer only these brands in a few years time!

I was part of a conversation whinging about the same thing recently, and I mentioned the importance of Farmers' Markets. The girls present expressed great surprise as their impression was the the markets are only for expensive "gourmet" items and are frequented by snobby rich people and hippies, LOL. No doubt that is true of a few markets perhaps, but in response to their questions, I've summarised some of my remarks about "proper" farmers' markets and added some links for you, girls (sorry it took so long!) :-)

The Importance of Local Farmers' Markets
There are a number of reasons why I think supporting your local farmer's markets is so important. "Food miles" is a popular term at the moment, because limiting the distance that food has to travel to reach your plate is not only good for you (the food is fresher, tastier and usually more nutritious), but it's also good for the environment (because it requires less transport and/or refrigeration, therefore less energy is used = less greenhouse gas emissions). But there's also a bit more involved than that.

1. Fresh is best! The final straw for me, and one of the catalysts that started me on this journey, was finally getting totally fed up with the disgusting, tasteless fruit and veg at my local supermarket. Ugh! How could I expect my kids to eat it when I thought it was gross? That was when I decided to go organic - I had resisted it prior to then solely on the basis of cost and inconvenience (the nearest store is several suburbs away). But fortunately for me, a new organic grocery delivery had just started up locally, so not only could I then get organic fruit and veg, but it was delivered, chopping my regular grocery shopping time in half! With three little kids, that is a huge bonus, LOL.

Being suitably impressed with the organic fruit and veg, my next step was to my local farmers' market. In a word: yum! The sight and smell of all that fresh produce is divine! I'm sure most people are aware these days that conventional produce is bred to withstand transport and storage conditions; taste comes a distant third. By dispensing with the need to transport and store the produce for long distances and time, farmers are able to grow heritage/heirloom varieties of fruit and veg, bred for TASTE and local conditions and pests. It's also seasonal, so what you get is at the peak of it's flavour (and nutrition), not something that has been picked green and/or stored for months on end.

2. Local means less energy. As mentioned above, reducing the need for transport over long distances and, commonly, refrigeration, means that there are less greenhouse gas emissions resulting from getting that food to your plate.

And who hasn't noticed the creep (jump!) up in many grocery item prices lately, most of which is blamed on transport costs and the price of fuel these days. I can see a point in the near future when local organic food is going to be priced the same as conventional produce trucked in from overseas or interstate!

I've mentioned before that I believe that the politics of peak oil are going affect us long before actual fuel shortages do, and this is one of the ways it will affect us deeply. Years ago, our cities were surrounded by a ring of market gardens that supplied the city dwellers, but they have long since given way to urban sprawl. Which means we are increasingly tied to getting our produce from further and further away and at higher and higher cost. By supporting and encouraging local farmers, we can try and turn this situation around: yet another situation where what is good for the environment is good for us too!

3. Local employment opportunities. Self-evident really! Supporting local businesses is pretty much always a good thing, I know I'd rather than my money stayed locally instead of supporting some faceless multi-national company CEO getting paid $x million a year.

4. Encourages diversity and organic growing. Modern, conventional farming and processing encourages mono-cultures: vast fields of the same thing. While "efficient", it's an unnatural way for things to grow, and hence generally requires lots of artificial petrochemical-based fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides to do the job. It can also tend to put smaller farm operations out of business because they just can't get the returns their larger neighbours can. Supporting local farmers however, encourages not only a return to the heritage varieties and breeds of plants and animals I mentioned above, but is also makes it worthwhile to grow produce in smaller areas, thereby encouraging not only a more diverse range of crops, but also starts to make it worthwhile to invest in more labour-intensive organic growing methods. Small areas of crops are less likely to be attacked and decimated by pests than large mono-cultures; it is easier to control pests by hand; it is easier to practice crop rotation, and organic fertilising and weeding for example.

5. Cuts out the middle man. The farmer gets all the income without the supermarkets adding their (enormous) cut. Getting a larger percentage of income from their produce means it is much more viable to maintain smaller farms, to grow organically and/or to grow a wider range of produce.

6. Creates a sense of community. If nothing else, wandering around a market checking out the sights is a wonderful opportunity to relax and unwind, and meet some of the locals out and about! Not to mention chatting with the local farmers and getting to ask questions about varieties and cooking methods. I've often mentioned how insular we are getting as a society these days - we get home and just want to stay there watching videos all weekend! What better a way to get out and about than than checking out the local farmers' market?

So, as you can see, buying locally really is a win-win situation for everyone!

Links

The Australian Farmer's Market Association

Australian Farmers Market Listings 2007

Regional Food Australia

Sydney Organic & Farmers' Markets