When one thinks of a farmers markets, they think of a small scale mom & pop style farm. Maybe a hobby farm or just a small step up from that. Most don't think mega-farms spanning hundreds of commercial acres. Well the sad truth, in my area at least, is that if you look at the boxes...these are the same boxes you find behind the local big chain grocery stores. The prices are for the most part the same or slightly higher. How can that even be when the distributors have been cut out of the equation? What am I getting that's wholesome and unique? The stuff tastes the same as from the store because it IS the same stuff from the store. Ethically, how can an organizer of a famers market allow this? Some people don't know any better and *think* they are getting some carefully nurtured, small batch *whatever*. The only thing they are getting is snookered. Now aside from a few artisanal type breads and cheeses...Most of it is either commercial farm ho-hum stuff OR bulk acquired items like nuts.
I remember being in Oregon once on the coast in a tiny little community at their farmers market. Everything looked perfectly "imperfect" and one could tell that these people grew these items in their yards or harvested it wild from the woods. That was the best farmers market I've ever been to.
Down here? It's a shame what people will do to make a buck. As if they don't know the game they're playing.
