Your neighborhood farmers’ market is the best place to buy fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables. In California, when you shop at a “certified farmers’ market” you know that every farm in the market has been inspected and is selling only those products that they have grown themselves.
By selling directly to you at a farmers’ market, a farmer is able to grow those products that they know are the biggest crowd-pleasers. Some products that taste delicious may not keep well during the cross-country travel that much of the grocery store produce endures. Farmers who grow for distributors and whose food ends up in mainstream grocery stores must grow only those products allowed by that middleman, regardless of what the end consumer might prefer.
Farmers’ markets also represent essential life-lines for small farmers. Farmers who sell in farmers’ markets are able to retain a higher percentage of each sale; funds that they are able to reinvest into jobs in their home communities. They are also not subject to market fluctuations that can drive down the price of their product once it is already planted.
The majority of the farms you will find in your neighborhood farmers’ market are small-scale, family farms. Often they are multi-generational farms with children following in the bootsteps of their parents and grandparents. You won’t find absentee land owners here. Most of these farmers live on the land where they grow your food. They are caring for that land and your food just as they would care for their own families.