Simply: Home Cooking

Paying the farmer's asking price...and increasing the farmer's share

Rural SCALE recently released a study on the affordability of local food for the average consumer, collecting data from 24 farmers’ markets in 19 communities in 6 southeastern states. The study concludes that

Overall, farmers markets in the Southeast and Appalachia are highly competitive with mainstream supermarkets in their pricing on a range of commonly consumed foods, including produce, meats and eggs. (Emphasis in the original.)

Naturally, one might draw different conclusions from similar studies of other regions, but there are some interesting statistics (and generalizable conclusions?) about size of community and prices at farmers’ markets that sell to moderate- and low-income patrons, those who might believe that the local food movement has passed them by.

Then consider this graphic by the National Farmers Union: Farmer’s Share of Retail Food Dollar. I’m not so interested in the startling figures on processed foods (soft drinks, potato chips, bread) because few of the raw ingredients are actually supplied by a farmer. Far more disturbing are the figures on whole, minimally processed ingredients. Take the produce section of a conventional supermarket (think Safeway, Kroger, etc.), for example: farmers receive anywhere from 10.3 cents on the dollar for lettuce to 30 cents on the dollar for carrots.

Now think about buying this produce at a farmers’ market or directly from a farmer: if it’s true that the prices at the farmers’ market are comparable to those of the supermarket for comparable items, the farmer will suddenly have $4.59 (instead of $1.38) in his pocket for 5 pounds of carrots; $3.08 (instead of $0.27) for a pound of tomatoes, etc.

Buying local food at the farmers’ market certainly seems like a win-win for farmers and consumers.

Fair Food

In recent months, a lot of activity at Fair Food Network, where I work, has focused on the publication of a book written by Oran Hesterman, our president/CEO. We launched the national book tour last Thursday in Ann Arbor, and so far the book has been met with a lot of enthusiasm and has garnered some great reviews (see Kirkus Reviews and this Kresge Foundation press release for 2 examples).

Where are YOU on your journey toward helping create a more sustainable, more equitable, fairer food system for our future generations: Just starting to think about buying more local food? Seriously into buying local, sustainable food? Involved in food systems change at the community level? Ready to influence the movement on a national scale?

Regardless of where you are on your food systems journey, I recommend this book as one that gives everyone practical steps to take to move us beyond what’s on our own plates and in our own refrigerators toward what we can do in our neighborhood, our greater community, and our country (and maybe even globally!) to make healthy, fresh food available to everyone now AND into the future.

Ready to get more involved?

• For a sneak peek at the content, see “Moving from Conscious Consumer to Engaged Citizen” on the Fair Food Network Blog.
• Find out whether Oran will be in your town on tour on the Fair Food book site and come hear him in person.
• Pick up or order the book at your favorite independent bookseller!

Once you've educated yourself about how broken the food system is (and as the Kresge release says, "that [book]’s been written – more than once"), you will begin to see the problems all around you, both in our nation and in the world (see "High, dry, and up against a wall"). Oran Hesterman's Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All will take you one step further and show you where to look for solutions AND how to become part of the solution.