Fruit at the farmer’s markets are overpriced

[cantdrv55]

I bought two pounds of nectarines at the FM in Napa today. I did my grocery shopping afterwards at my local grocery store which is known for great produce but you’ll pay bank. Nectarines we’re cheaper there by half! Wtf. I thought FM stuff are supposed to be cheaper and better quality. I got ripped!

[wdfifteen]

I never heard of Farmers Market produce being cheaper. Usually better quality, but you have to keep your eyes open.

One of our local FMs has blueberries for $4.99 a pint. Kroger had them for $3.49. The Kroger berries came from Mexico, the Farmer's Market berries came from the field behind the store and were bigger and better tasting. Fruit that has to travel is often picked green and allowed to ripen in ethylene gas in transit.

But often Farmer's Markets will buy the same produce you get at the supermarket to fill in stock that they don't happen to have. For example, strawberries are ripe in June here in Ohio. If you buy then in June they are likely local. If they still have any in July they probably came from California or Mexico.

I would hate to try to make a living growing food. It is labor intensive and can be expensive. I don't begrudge Farmer Market their prices.
Seeing the prices at the supermarket or Farmer's Market can ease the pain of growing it yourself. I made 12 jars of jam and froze 8 quart bags of blueberries from my bushes this year. At $4.99 a pint and $3.99 a jar for jam, that's a couple of hundred dollars worth of food - for free.

[masraum]

I wouldn't necessarily expect FM produce to be cheaper. I would expect it to be better, and fresher, but not cheaper.

Produce at a grocery store (varies by item) can sit in warehouses for weeks and months before it is put up for sale. FM stuff is probably <1wk since harvested (assuming a weekly market).

[Noah930]

I'm with the OP. I would have expected cutting out the middle man/men to have netted some sort of financial savings. But I suppose there are economies of scale from buying from a supermarket that aren't realized in a farmer's market setting. Or maybe it's like how people selling their homes FSBO feel their houses should command a premium over those sold through traditional realtors.

[Deschodt]

Everything is overpriced lately. Fruit, GT3s ;-)

If this were a movie script I'd say the Robber Barrons have decided the Serfs have had it too good for too long and they want back in charge and to know who's boss. It' can't all be Ukraine.

[aschen]

always found organized FM to be quite expensive, even the side of the road guys arn't super cheap. Don't go to those things very often so I don't mind overpaying and supporting the vendors. They can't make a ton of money doing those things.

Fruit is getting pretty expensive on the whole and my kids seem to like the fancy stuff. 3.99/lb for white nectarines. My son who struggles to eat decent food loves them so I always buy a big bag. Works out to 15$ or something if I put 10-12 in a bag.

My youngest who is so sweet an polite, I can say no to loves yellow kiwi and yellow mangos. Those damn Kiwi are over 1$ each and she eats like 4 at a time. I just tell myself "better than buying cake" at checkout.

I personally love red delicious and fuji apples which are still basically free at this point thankfully

[911 Rod]

Not cheap around here. I find it funny when they also sell pre packed stuff that they bought at the food terminal and smile as we give them more than it costs at the local produce store.
We get it delivered by a local farm it's crazy what it costs. Especially the meat.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I'm happy to pay more to support locally grown fruits and veggies. They are uglier but taste better. And nice supporting local people on micro farms. In season grown produce is so much better than genetically modified for color and transport, picked way too early and shipped halfway around the world, produce.

Best example was recent though not a direct example. Went to England, stayed at an AirBnB in London. Wanted some strawberries and whipped cream one night for dessert. Went to the supermarket down the street, got some rather unappetizing small pinkish red berries and a pint of double cream. Both had Made in England support local labor (or something like that) labels.

The strawberries were AMAZING. I mean some of the best strawberries I've ever had. Sweet and super tasty. The heavy cream was the same as U.S. Contrast that to Driscoll's strawberries at U.S. supermarkets which are picture perfect red and huge and ready for a magazine cover. And taste only slightly better than the clear plastic container they come in. Completely tasteless. But cheap.

[Zeke]

Many of the 'farmers market' vendors here start their day at the wholesale market. It's not farm to table at all. Used to be lots of agriculture close by. I'm talking the 50's. Now anything that doesn't come from a backyard comes from 100 miles away. People like Craighster59 live much closer to farms up near Santa Paula CA. Avocadoes can come from San Diego County. Produce comes from Coachella way out by the Colorado River. It's a desert out there set up to rob water from the river. But they grow a lot of winter crops. The orchards that once populated Orange County and places like Knott's Berry Farm have been gone for 60 years.

[cockerpunk]

if you believe you got ripped off, don't do it?

like im confused why this is a thread. farmers markets are great for all the reasons specified already, never was there a promise of end consumer being cheaper. more based on keeping money within the community, keeping food local, keeping it from being processed etc.

supporting non-cooperate farming alone should be a major motivation.

its pretty easy to tell the stalls that buy from wholesalers, i tend to avoid them, but they do serve a purpose (ie, sometimes you dont want to make an extra stop etc).

[masraum]

Originally Posted by aschen

always found organized FM to be quite expensive, even the side of the road guys arn't super cheap. Don't go to those things very often so I don't mind overpaying and supporting the vendors. They can't make a ton of money doing those things.

It's entirely possible that the vendors at those places pay quite a bit of money to "rent a space". It would take selling a ton of carrots @50¢ a bunch to offset a $100, $200, or more space rental fee.

Fruit is getting pretty expensive on the whole and my kids seem to like the fancy stuff. 3.99/lb for white nectarines. My son who struggles to eat decent food loves them so I always buy a big bag. Works out to 15$ or something if I put 10-12 in a bag.

My youngest who is so sweet an polite, I can say no to loves yellow kiwi and yellow mangos. Those damn Kiwi are over 1$ each and she eats like 4 at a time. I just tell myself "better than buying cake" at checkout.

I personally love red delicious and fuji apples which are still basically free at this point thankfully

Yep. I LOVE "Sumo" oranges, and when they are in season (short season early in the year) they are $3.99/lb at WF. I spend a ton on them, and tell myself "these are a healthy treat for a limited time only!"

[The Synergizer]

There's always dumpster diving...
(Is that still a thing? I remember the hippies doing it back in the 70's)

[fastfredracing]

I dont even mind. I love stopping at the little farmers market and grabbing up a bundle of tomatoes, or a head of cauliflower. It may cost a little more, but I dont have to drive to Babylon and mix it up with the natives, plus I know its grown right down the street , and I am helping to support my neighborhood and community .
Farm to table .
Everything costs more .

[JackDidley]

A local guy buys apples at Walmart, dumps the bags into bushel baskets and sells them at the "farmers Market". Not sure how many others do this but I do not buy from the farmers market.

[bmcuscgr94]

We sell nuts from our orchard 3 different ways. We only produce a few tons a year. Most are sold to a processor at $0.5 a pound, who does their magic, packages them and sells them via markets and places like Walmart for $4 to $6 a pound or to bakers, food processors and such.

What nuts we can process ourselves get sold at our farm stand for $5 a pound or at several local markets. The local markets pay us $5 a pound and resell at $8 a pound.

We've tried to get into local farmers market but we're on their waiting list. We have gone through the certification process with the County so we can sell at any farmers market. Here they are supposed to check and make sure you grow what you sell at the farmers market. County Ag Commissioner's office came out and inspected our orchard for the certification.

[Otter74]

I love farmer’s markets but they ain’t cheap here. Most of the produce at markets here comes from SW Michigan or sometimes downstate; there’s a bit that comes from urban farms at certain markets. I will pay whatever it costs for peaches from Michigan when they’re in season. Other summer fruit, too. There is produce that I can’t find at the store at all, other produce that I can but is just better (celery, for instance - I won’t make my favorite summer celery salad with anything other than the dark, strong stuff I get at the market July - September, though I recently discovered Chinese celery is a pretty good substitute off-season.)

I was in the Dordogne for a week about five or six years ago for a week in the summer and was a bit shocked at how much cheaper prices were at markets there than at home. I guess I was expecting Parisian prices.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

A local guy buys apples at Walmart, dumps the bags into bushel baskets and sells them at the "farmers Market". Not sure how many others do this but I do not buy from the farmers market.

They have photos of guys at the local farmers market emptying Driscoll raspberries into punnets and selling them for 4x what the supermarket gets for them.

[Baz]

Our local produce stand....check out their product and pricing!

Weekly specials:

https://perrinesproduce.com/perrines-weekly-specials/

[schamp]

Regarding local markets- I used to sell our blueberries at a local market. Sold at fair or current store prices. Thing was our berries were local. Nothing was sprayed on our berries and they were picked the day before. BTW, blueberries don't ripen any further once picked.
On a side note, our 20 acre blueberry field took a 100% loss this season. We had two days of 26 degrees in mid March. Froze the flowers and young berries on the make.
I turned the field into a U-Pick blueberry operation years ago. People come and pay me to pick.
Every season is a flat out gamble. Why I still have a day job.

[pmax]