Farm-Fresh or Farmed Out?

Farmers markets play to the foodie in all of us, offering a delicious, one-on-one connection to fresh-picked produce, bakery goods hot out of the oven, artisanal olive oils and meat cut to order. As a bonus, they reduce long-distance shipping of groceries and the associated environmental costs. Problem is, it's not always easy to determine what's actually being sold at the farmer's market. Is it from a local farm? Organically grown? Both? Or neither?

Even the box labels can fool you. What might appear to be a crate of Florida tomatoes in an Iowa stand may actually be a container reused by a frugal and ecologically-minded farmer. Or the tomatoes might be from California—the same ones being sold at the supermarket. So how do you know the difference?

We urge you to follow the simple mantra of stop, look and listen. Soon you'll be on your way to supporting the growers and producers of your choice.

STOP by a farmers market

"The first step is to find a farmer's market," says Jerusha Klemperer, assistant to the executive director for Slow Food USA, a nonprofit that seeks to reconnect people to food that isn't mass-produced. "Even if the market isn't unilaterally local, it's a beginning," she states.

Local Harvest, another nonprofit with a focus on smaller growers and artisans, and the USDA both have databases of farmers markets, searchable by zip code.

Once you've found one in your neighborhood, visit the market's website or make a call to determine what's being sold there and when.

Deb Connors, the market master for the City Market in Kansas City, Mo., says that "Ninety-eight percent of our growers are from within 200 miles, but we allow items from as far away as 500 miles." The City Market also allows some growers to supplement with produce bought from neighbors or nearby auctions.

Kirk Lumpkin, special events and promotions coordinator for the Ecology Center farmer's markets in Berkeley, Calif., says, "At the North Berkeley Market, you have to be organic." However, the board and bylaws allow for occasional exceptions, such as grandfathering in a few longtime vendors, Lumpkin says. There are also others whose practices, says Lumpkin, "are organic or even better" but who don't apply for USDA Organic certification because of the expense or other factors.