[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.