by Chas Bonner
We recently had guests from California, and upon hearing that Boise had a vibrant Farmer’s Market, that became a “must do.” After spending a few hours in the Saturday morning market, we decided to research the subject, and how it impacts agriculture.
What an interesting phenomenon. Although farmer’s markets have been in existence since the beginning of time, their growth and importance have exploded in just the past decade. There are now over 7000 farmer’s markets across the United States, and in just the past year, that number increased 17%. Furthermore, they introduce new concepts and new fresh products to countless people, consumers who now attend as much for the social interaction as for the food. By selling locally, far fewer inputs are used, especially transportation costs; it is now estimated that growing, processing, and transport of food uses 17% of the total energy consumption of the country. Finally, it was noted that many of the market attendees were young people, much more so than in the average supermarket (although this was just a casual observation).
As a human interest story, one of the long-time farmer’s market stall occupants is the Rice Family Farm. Lee Rice and his father were both plumbers, but the father always enjoyed his small vegetable garden on the one acre plot at his home. That one acre soon became 3 acres when the father retired from plumbing, and the bulk of the food was sold to the Boise Co-op as organically grown. Soon Lee Rice also realized that farming was in his blood, so he quit plumbing. Now he and his family farm 28 acres, and sell all as certified organically grown, both to the Boise Co-op and in several area farmers’ markets.
Importantly, Lee Rice stated “The consumer is driving a movement toward knowing more about where their food comes from and how it was produced…” In short, there is more interest in food, in local growing, in clean, safe food, and in the farm economy.
As farmers, we are in good times.
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