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COMMENTS & ANALYSIS
Nothing More Than Produce Purchasing As Tourism
by jim prevor, editor-in-chief, produce business
Much of the research devoted to farmers markets, roadside stands and Community Supported Ag-
riculture (CSA) has been focused on ascer- taining whether shopping in these venues means these consumers buy less through conventional venues, such as supermarkets.
The best answer we have for this is no. Certainly, many studies have now found that people who shop in these direct-to-consumer venues actually spend more on fresh produce at conventional venues than consumers who never buy via direct-to-consumer vendors. Of course, we can’t actually tell if this is because these shoppers simply love produce — and they would buy even more in supermarkets if direct-to-consumer channels didn’t exist — or if the existence of direct-to-consumer chan- nels gets people excited about produce, and they thus buy more in conventional stores.
One has to be careful in deriving lessons about how stores should merchandise from the fact that many people enjoy farmers markets. It is hard to get great statistics but, at Produce Business, we estimate that less than a half of 1% of produce consumed in America is sold through farmers markets.
Although many consumers love the farmers market, what they seem to really love is the experience of being outside, going with family or friends, interacting with growers, seeing unusual items, etc. Consider it produce purchasing as tourism. It is true that displaying produce at retail in wood barrels and baskets may remind consumers of some of these pleasant experiences, but the business of produce is a large and serious one, and it is not clear emulating the farmers market experience results in greater sales.
Lots of studies claim that farmers, capturing the full retail value of their prod- ucts, pro t from direct-to-consumer sales. Dig deep enough and you typically nd that these “pro ts” depend heavily on free labor from the farmer’s family.
One wonders how many consumers realize that much of the direct-to-consumer sales are exempt from food safety require-
There is nothing wrong with a little farm-like décor – but supermarkets should not yield the moral high ground to direct-to-consumer shopping.
ments that produce sold at supermarkets has to meet?
Do consumers realize that, permitted or not, loads of produce sold at farmers markets and farm stands are frequently purchased off a local terminal market?
Produce sold in these venues is often, in fact, not “local” and not “organic.” The consumers may chat away with someone at the stand, but they are not getting to “know your farmer” ... it is an industry rife with fraud.
In many cases, the operators of farmers markets turn a blind eye to this because, after a boom, many farmers markets are now struggling. The boom was not motivated by consumer demand as much as by urban planners looking to use farmer’s markets to stimulate activity in urban and suburban communities. The impact often has been multiple small markets that serve to weaken the larger pre-existing farmers markets.
In addition, many farmers markets are operated on valuable public property and represent a de facto subsidy to the vendors. This gives them an unfair advantage over supermarkets that have to pay full real estate and other taxes.
And when it comes to taste and condition, there is precious little research indicating that in blind taste tests, consumers nd produce from farm stands to be more tasty than produce from their local supermarket. Note that this type of research is both easy to do and relatively inexpensive. You go to a reputable university and let them purchase produce from supermarkets and from the farmers market, let consumers sample without knowing which is which and nd out which source they rank higher for taste.
It is so easy to do this study that it would
be surprising if various farmers markets hadn’t tried this research, so the fact that little has been published is damning.
Those in the industry know that the lack of available refrigeration almost certainly means that produce is not being well cared for in most farmers markets. Many vendors go from market to market to display each day and simply keep produce on their unrefrigerated trucks overnight. This reduces the “shelf-life” of the produce once the consumer gets the produce home.
Consumers may like the idea the produce is “fresher” at farmers markets and farm stands, but this just tells us how in uenced consumers can be by atmospherics. If a farmer has two acres and grows one crop, this may create a halo effect over the 50 items the vendor buys off the local terminal market!
Retailers have a lot to be proud of. They support their community as upstanding taxpayers. They support farmers by paying large sums of money as an outlet for large volumes of product. They offer world class food safety standards, transparent supply chains, certi ed sustainability and employ- ment for millions. They maintain the life of shopping districts and support local commu- nity institutions, from Little League to the local hospital. They gather the fruit of the world into one convenient place and, today, typically offer delivery for the convenience of consumers. They are a triumph of Western civilization.
There is nothing wrong with a little farm- like décor — but supermarkets should not yield the moral high ground to direct-to- consumer shopping.Supermarkets do more to help consumers, localities, indeed the whole world ... than farmers markets ever will.
PRODUCE BUSINESS / AUGUST 2019 / 13