Monday, March 05, 2007
Value Or Villany?
What exactly is a farmer’s market?
It would seem I’m not the only one asking this question; Ed from Tomato is also seeking some answers. The short answer would be a market that seeks to put the farmer or producer in touch with a local community, where the farmer gets feedback directly from the consumer, unfiltered by middlemen (read supermarkets) pushing their own agenda and where the consumer can find out more about the offered goods and chat to the producer in a friendly and informal manner. A farmer’s market should also provide the highest quality produce and some items that are not mainstream, so that the public is stimulated by different ingredients not carried in supermarkets or regular grocery stores.
Another feature of these markets ought to be cheaper prices, it was this idea that came under strong challenge on the weekend at the St Kilda Farmer’s market. I went along to get some sorrel for some soup, but unfortunately the regular herb supplier wasn’t there. Thinking that maybe someone else might carry it, I did a reconnoitre of the stalls and was shocked at some of the prices being asked. The man selling oysters was offering unshucked for $15 a dozen and $18 shucked, there didn’t seem to be much business for him, completely understandable when a short drive up the road, fishmongers at Prahran Market were offering shucked Sydney rock oysters at $13 a dozen.
How does this oyster farmer defend asking more for his produce than the market that is not just renowned for the quality of produce but is considered the most expensive market going, servicing as it does the most exclusive and affluent suburbs of Melbourne? The oysterman had just a refrigerated van and trestle table, hardly horrendous overheads but sadly his produce was a snip compared to the price of organic apples on sale at a different stall.
We regularly buy apples from an orchard that is as close as spitting to organic and we pay between $1.50 and $1.75 a kilo depending on variety, at one stall, organic apples were selling for $6 a kilo, more than three times what we pay. That is an absolutely scandalous price even given their organic status. How can they possibly justify it?
I think I know.
When people get a taste of apples from an orchard and not the supermarket the difference in flavour and texture is immediately apparent, the difference between straight from the orchard and organic is not so discernible. When people get a taste of organic apples for the first time, they think that the organic factor is responsible for the superior taste and the people selling organic apples like you to think just that when in fact it’s just the fruit has been picked riper than supermarkets prefer, looking as they do for shelf life.
What has got me hopping mad about this is that it affects the stall holders who are living up to the ideal of what a farmer’s market should be, the ones who are bringing in hard to get herbs like sorrel or black kale, or the stall holder who is selling milk, not just any milk but bath milk. This is unpasteurised milk sold not for drinking but cosmetic purposes - they can’t tell you that it can be drunk, I can’t tell you that either, but I accidentally swallowed some and it was the richest, creamiest milk I have ever tasted.
Compare that to the stall selling a goat’s cheese that I can buy at any good cheese shop for the same price as the market. Why would I bother to buy here, when at the cheese shop there is the full range of cheeses? I understand that their cheeses can’t be too deeply discounted, as the cheese shops would eventually find out that they were being undercut and stop stocking them, but even if it was just a dollar or two cheaper it would make all the difference and could be justified to the cheese shops as marketing the brand.
Another stall that had me shaking my head was Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm. This is a multi-million dollar business that is the major strawberry supplier to Coles Supermarkets. Their annual production is in excess of three million punnets of strawberries and over two hundred thousand people visit the farm every year. I can tell you from experience that their retail shop on the Mornington Peninsula has some of the highest priced products that you will ever see. One such was a packet of chocolate mousse preparation. Now I'm a home cook and it shocked me that I could have produced the same quantity as this packet using the finest quality chocolate such as Valronha for half the cost.
The feeling I was getting is that some vendors see these farmer’s markets as cash cows and are milking them for all they can get. The public will wise up in time and attendances will fall, making it harder for everyone. I love the farmer’s markets for the different things available, for the little discoveries such as unpasteurised milk or the stall selling single variety beef or another selling venison, for the small guys having a go or just getting their message out.
What I don’t love is the feeling I’m being touched.
Edited to add: Ed is running a poll on farmer's markets, you can vote right here.
It would seem I’m not the only one asking this question; Ed from Tomato is also seeking some answers. The short answer would be a market that seeks to put the farmer or producer in touch with a local community, where the farmer gets feedback directly from the consumer, unfiltered by middlemen (read supermarkets) pushing their own agenda and where the consumer can find out more about the offered goods and chat to the producer in a friendly and informal manner. A farmer’s market should also provide the highest quality produce and some items that are not mainstream, so that the public is stimulated by different ingredients not carried in supermarkets or regular grocery stores.
Another feature of these markets ought to be cheaper prices, it was this idea that came under strong challenge on the weekend at the St Kilda Farmer’s market. I went along to get some sorrel for some soup, but unfortunately the regular herb supplier wasn’t there. Thinking that maybe someone else might carry it, I did a reconnoitre of the stalls and was shocked at some of the prices being asked. The man selling oysters was offering unshucked for $15 a dozen and $18 shucked, there didn’t seem to be much business for him, completely understandable when a short drive up the road, fishmongers at Prahran Market were offering shucked Sydney rock oysters at $13 a dozen.
How does this oyster farmer defend asking more for his produce than the market that is not just renowned for the quality of produce but is considered the most expensive market going, servicing as it does the most exclusive and affluent suburbs of Melbourne? The oysterman had just a refrigerated van and trestle table, hardly horrendous overheads but sadly his produce was a snip compared to the price of organic apples on sale at a different stall.
We regularly buy apples from an orchard that is as close as spitting to organic and we pay between $1.50 and $1.75 a kilo depending on variety, at one stall, organic apples were selling for $6 a kilo, more than three times what we pay. That is an absolutely scandalous price even given their organic status. How can they possibly justify it?
I think I know.
When people get a taste of apples from an orchard and not the supermarket the difference in flavour and texture is immediately apparent, the difference between straight from the orchard and organic is not so discernible. When people get a taste of organic apples for the first time, they think that the organic factor is responsible for the superior taste and the people selling organic apples like you to think just that when in fact it’s just the fruit has been picked riper than supermarkets prefer, looking as they do for shelf life.
What has got me hopping mad about this is that it affects the stall holders who are living up to the ideal of what a farmer’s market should be, the ones who are bringing in hard to get herbs like sorrel or black kale, or the stall holder who is selling milk, not just any milk but bath milk. This is unpasteurised milk sold not for drinking but cosmetic purposes - they can’t tell you that it can be drunk, I can’t tell you that either, but I accidentally swallowed some and it was the richest, creamiest milk I have ever tasted.
Compare that to the stall selling a goat’s cheese that I can buy at any good cheese shop for the same price as the market. Why would I bother to buy here, when at the cheese shop there is the full range of cheeses? I understand that their cheeses can’t be too deeply discounted, as the cheese shops would eventually find out that they were being undercut and stop stocking them, but even if it was just a dollar or two cheaper it would make all the difference and could be justified to the cheese shops as marketing the brand.
Another stall that had me shaking my head was Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm. This is a multi-million dollar business that is the major strawberry supplier to Coles Supermarkets. Their annual production is in excess of three million punnets of strawberries and over two hundred thousand people visit the farm every year. I can tell you from experience that their retail shop on the Mornington Peninsula has some of the highest priced products that you will ever see. One such was a packet of chocolate mousse preparation. Now I'm a home cook and it shocked me that I could have produced the same quantity as this packet using the finest quality chocolate such as Valronha for half the cost.
The feeling I was getting is that some vendors see these farmer’s markets as cash cows and are milking them for all they can get. The public will wise up in time and attendances will fall, making it harder for everyone. I love the farmer’s markets for the different things available, for the little discoveries such as unpasteurised milk or the stall selling single variety beef or another selling venison, for the small guys having a go or just getting their message out.
What I don’t love is the feeling I’m being touched.
Edited to add: Ed is running a poll on farmer's markets, you can vote right here.
Labels: farmer's markets
