4. FARMERS’ MARKET ADMINISTRATORS:
Administrators coordinate the supply and talents of farmers to create a viable commercial operation. They provide a place for the farmers market. The farmers’ market is promoted to meet customers’ needs. It is created to fit the needs of all three actors. The administrators are community leaders and entrepreneurs who have an interest in drawing a critical mass of people.
The administrator or the body in charge of each market has formed and continues to shape each market in a way that best suits the farmers, the consumers and their own needs. The Administrator can be a single person, a board, or other group that decides on the rules and regulations and the spatial dimensions of the market. An administrator may have a specific intended motive, but his or her actions are mainly governed by maintaining and strengthening the relationship between the farmers and customers.
The creation of several farmers’ markets by different administrators in differing contexts has created a diversity of farmers’ markets. I have identified the five following aspects of farmers’ markets governing their administration: Some farmers’ markets restrict the distance that food and other products intended for sale travel. Many have restrictions on the resale of products. Some are restricted to organic or naturally grown and produced items. Some have sole proprietorship while others are run by governing bodies. Some offer an extended season or winter farmers’ market to the normal summer season.
Other differences include variance in size and formality. Size depends on the market for local produce, the size of available spaces and the availability of willing farmers to sell their goods. Some markets are very formal, are set up in a permanently designated space, and have stringent rules for vendors to follow. The antithesis of this is the roadside stand or farm-side table where a farmer sells or trusts a customer to leave money for produce sitting in view of the road. Most markets have arrived at a balance somewhere in between formal and informal.
In The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Sociology Gordon Marshall writes that sociologists use the term “informal” to designate non-market work, and sometimes black economy work, while economists would likely use the term for hidden, underground, or black economies that are not correctly measured by the Gross National Product. Non-market work can include: unpaid domestic work, community service, goods and services used that are bartered or given as gifts, and work for which income tax may not be paid in full. While “formal” may refer to waged and salaried labor, “informal” would refer to self-employment, artisanal production, and domestic service (Marshall, 1994).
Some markets take place twice or even every day of the week. The formal time structure of most markets in Indiana is a season that runs from May through October, though some have extended season when indoor facilities exist. As more new markets come into existence, consumers not only have the choice of location, but also the choice of which day of the week they wish to shop.
Farmers’ markets, like Traders Point Green Market and East Central Indiana’s Natural Heritage Market, have opened up in the past couple years in response to customers desire for natural and organic products. While these farmers’ markets are very different, they each are adapted to the local customer demand. “Nationwide, the market for organic foods has soared from $3.57 billion in 1997 to $10.38 billion in 2003, according to Organic Trade Association. The group predicts sales will reach $14.5 billion by the end of 2005 as Americans buy everything from radishes to beef grown without conventional pesticides and fertilizers, biotechnology, antibiotics or growth hormones... Cathy Greene, an agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, said the retail market for organic foods continues to grow about 20 percent each year. Most people buy organic out of health concerns, she said. Some want to support environmentally friendly farms, but for others, it's a quest for food with superior taste and nutrition” (Greene, May 9, 2005).
Each farmers’ market administrator has his or her own goals and reasons for running a farmers’ market. They bring together the farmer and the customer joining supply and demand. This critical meeting place also fosters the administrator’s goals. The union of these interests in Central Indiana is discussed in the next chapter.
The administrator or the body in charge of each market has formed and continues to shape each market in a way that best suits the farmers, the consumers and their own needs. The Administrator can be a single person, a board, or other group that decides on the rules and regulations and the spatial dimensions of the market. An administrator may have a specific intended motive, but his or her actions are mainly governed by maintaining and strengthening the relationship between the farmers and customers.
The creation of several farmers’ markets by different administrators in differing contexts has created a diversity of farmers’ markets. I have identified the five following aspects of farmers’ markets governing their administration: Some farmers’ markets restrict the distance that food and other products intended for sale travel. Many have restrictions on the resale of products. Some are restricted to organic or naturally grown and produced items. Some have sole proprietorship while others are run by governing bodies. Some offer an extended season or winter farmers’ market to the normal summer season.
Other differences include variance in size and formality. Size depends on the market for local produce, the size of available spaces and the availability of willing farmers to sell their goods. Some markets are very formal, are set up in a permanently designated space, and have stringent rules for vendors to follow. The antithesis of this is the roadside stand or farm-side table where a farmer sells or trusts a customer to leave money for produce sitting in view of the road. Most markets have arrived at a balance somewhere in between formal and informal.
In The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Sociology Gordon Marshall writes that sociologists use the term “informal” to designate non-market work, and sometimes black economy work, while economists would likely use the term for hidden, underground, or black economies that are not correctly measured by the Gross National Product. Non-market work can include: unpaid domestic work, community service, goods and services used that are bartered or given as gifts, and work for which income tax may not be paid in full. While “formal” may refer to waged and salaried labor, “informal” would refer to self-employment, artisanal production, and domestic service (Marshall, 1994).
Some markets take place twice or even every day of the week. The formal time structure of most markets in Indiana is a season that runs from May through October, though some have extended season when indoor facilities exist. As more new markets come into existence, consumers not only have the choice of location, but also the choice of which day of the week they wish to shop.
Farmers’ markets, like Traders Point Green Market and East Central Indiana’s Natural Heritage Market, have opened up in the past couple years in response to customers desire for natural and organic products. While these farmers’ markets are very different, they each are adapted to the local customer demand. “Nationwide, the market for organic foods has soared from $3.57 billion in 1997 to $10.38 billion in 2003, according to Organic Trade Association. The group predicts sales will reach $14.5 billion by the end of 2005 as Americans buy everything from radishes to beef grown without conventional pesticides and fertilizers, biotechnology, antibiotics or growth hormones... Cathy Greene, an agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, said the retail market for organic foods continues to grow about 20 percent each year. Most people buy organic out of health concerns, she said. Some want to support environmentally friendly farms, but for others, it's a quest for food with superior taste and nutrition” (Greene, May 9, 2005).
Each farmers’ market administrator has his or her own goals and reasons for running a farmers’ market. They bring together the farmer and the customer joining supply and demand. This critical meeting place also fosters the administrator’s goals. The union of these interests in Central Indiana is discussed in the next chapter.
posted by Anthony Noble at 7:38 PM
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