Much more than food offered at area farmers markets

With the onset of spring, local farmers markets are preparing for another season of selling locally grown food directly to the public.

The Chattanooga area now has six different markets where consumers can purchase fresh meats, cheeses, grains and produce from the area's farmers who grow or craft it themselves.

For some, being able to purchase local food harvested that day from the person who grew it, is a conscious choice to support local farmers and a healthy lifestyle. For others, it is a novel idea that may not always be a convenient option as most markets are only open on certain days of the week for a few hours.

Melanie Mayo, director of education and outreach at Crabtree Farms, said she thinks there are larger issues at hand when it comes to supporting local farms and local food initiatives.

"Having local farms in our area is food security for Chattanooga," Mayo said. "As there are more food scares with peanut butter, spinach, whatever, people are realizing we have a flawed food system in our country, and that a small local food system is smarter, safer and more economically beneficial to our community."

"Farmers markets bring transparency into the food system," said Jeff Pfitzer, program director for Gaining Ground, a Benwood Foundation initiative that seeks to reform the local food system through grants, coordinated efforts and public awareness.

"You can meet the people who are growing the food, and learn how it is grown. Unlike when buying in a grocery store and you don't know exactly where it came from or how it was produced," Pfitzer said.

According to Mayo, area farmers who are at the markets take a great deal of pride in what they grow and what they do. She said the open atmosphere at farmers markets encourage customers to ask questions.

"If you're buying at a market, and you're concerned with safety, or you have any questions, you should definitely ask. Knowing your farmer means you can ask him how he grew something, how much insurance he has, what kind of fertilizer he uses, everything."

For the small farmers who sell their food at markets, these weekly venues are their life's blood.

"If everyone spent even 1 percent of their income on buying food at local markets it would be a huge impact on farmers and increase their ability to continue to grow," Padgett Arnold, a working partner at Sequatchie Cove Farm in Sequatchie, Tenn., said. Arnold is now also the market manager of the Main Street Farmers Market (MSFM) which takes place on Wednesday afternoons.

The MSFM has a steady membership of almost 27 vendors that produce what they sell, Arnold said.

Letty Smith, farmer and owner of the Circle S Farm in Rising Fawn, Ga., is a board member of the regional Farmers Cooperative that formed in 2010 and sells her fruits and vegetables at area farmers markets. 

Smith says the farm, now in its 8th season, is just starting to break even.

"This is more of a lifestyle than a job. You put in way too many hours," Smith said. "We love the animals and the rural lifestyle, and making our own hours. But we're just now getting to a point where we feel like we're making a living."

Local markets provide farmers a way to sell directly to consumers and take home all of the money paid for their products. Since most small farmers are unable to produce the quantities that grocery stores demand, markets are sometimes the only venue available.

"We need a steady supply,"  Susan Baker, marketing director of Greenlife Grocery's Chattanooga store, said. "We work with anyone, and are always on the search for local producers, but a lot of times they can't commit to producing as much as we need."

Baker sees the neighborhood farmers markets as a complement to the local offerings inside the store.

"Anything that can promote local in the Chattanooga community is awesome. We don't see it as competition at all. It helps promote these local producers and helps us do what we do as well," Baker said.

For people who just want to find locally grown food in the aisle of their nearest grocery store, Arnold explains that, just like any business, production and demand go hand in hand.

She said small farms will be in a position to be ongoing suppliers to stores when the demand increases at the market level.

According to Arnold, it is at that point production can increase and farmers have more than enough to supply markets and stores. She said it all begins at the local market level and a steady stream of customers buying local food every week.