How Markets Can Help Farmer Vendors: Number of Markets
By: Dan Blaustein Rejto Posted On: August 12, 2015
To better understand the evolving needs of farmers markets and the farmers who sell at them, American Farmland Trust and the Farmers Market Coalition teamed up with C2It Marketing to complete a national survey of farmers who sell at farmers markets. This is part of a series of posts on the results of this survey. Read the other posts here.
Direct-marketing farmers were asked, “What could be done to help you and your farmers market be more successful?
Number of Markets
Some respondents commented that they would benefit if several markets combined.
One respondent explained, “Farmers need a ‘critical mass’ of customers. As the number of farmers markets grow, farmers are being forced to sell at multiple markets in order to make the same sales they once could make at a single larger regional market. In rural areas there are just so many customers and now dozens of markets selling ‘local’. Farmers don’t have the time or labor resources to tend their farm and go to several markets just to maintain their income.”
Read more about the survey responses…
About the Survey:
The Direct Market Farmers: National Survey, conducted in March 2015, yielded an impressive response from over 1,500 farmers and ranchers across the United States, benchmarking this survey as one of the largest of its kind completed on record.
US-based farmers and ranchers invited to participate in the survey were selected based on their online presence (e.g. email, website, food/agriculture directory, etc.) and an indication of participation in the following activities:
- Farmers markets and/or CSAs
- Selling directly to consumers
- Local, regional and/or federal agriculture programs
- Educational studies
