Farmer shortage stunts growth of farmers markets

PHOENIX — Farmers markets are budding all over Arizona, but there are not enough farmers to meet the needs of all the Arizonans who are hungry for local, organic food.

The craze for organic and local food has brought about 21 farmers markets in the Valley, but Dee Logan, senior coordinator for Arizona Community Farmers Markets, says that the demand for farmers greatly outweighs the actual number of direct-market farmers – those that sell produce directly to buyers.

Logan said that the markets that customers want across the Valley cannot be created until Arizona has more direct market farmers.

“We need to grow farmers, and we need to grow growers before we expand too much more,” Logan says.

Cindy Gentry, executive director of Community Food Connections, says she gets five calls a day from people requesting more farmers markets. However, the work required for direct-market farmers is too great to keep up with the demand for markets.

Several factors prevent the development of more direct market farmers, like the effort required to produce organic food that customers seek, Gentry says. Zoning laws make it difficult for commercial and residential land to be converted back to farm land. Also, market farmers sell directly to the public, and this requires more marketing expertise that conventional farmers may lack.

Gentry says she is very concerned about where the next generation of growers will come from. She believes that changes need to be made in order to keep farmers selling to customers instead of large companies.

“The trend is that everybody wants to be at the market and benefit from its value,” Gentry says. “But we have some work to do, including some public policy work to make it viable and possible for farmers to stay on the land and in business.”

Maya Dailey, a vendor at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market, says that her passion for growing food for customers is what keeps her in the business. Her farm, simply called Maya’s Farm, is an organic and biodynamic farm located at 32nd Street and Southern Avenue in Phoenix.

“I am a very conscious food person, so the only pressure that’s on me is the pressure to grow food in a conscious, healthy, environmentally friendly way,” Dailey says.

However, very few farmers feel the way Dailey does about their produce. In 2006, there were about 10,000 farms in Arizona, but the vast majority of them grew for larger companies, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In an effort to keep direct-market farmers in business, the Arizona Farm Bureau created a program last year called Fill Your Plate. The program is helping local farmers get the word out about their produce so they can rely on business from farmers markets and visitors to the farm instead of larger companies to market their produce.

“We are trying to take care of our farmers, whether they are a small direct-market farmer or they are a cotton farmer, but we’re attempting to be a brand extension on their behalf,” says Julie Murphree, Arizona Farm Bureau spokeswoman.

There are 107 Arizona farmers involved in Fill Your Plate. The program connects the community with local farmers by including farmer biographies on their website, placing banners in high traffic areas to welcome customers to farms, and creating search engines where customers can find a farm that sells exactly what they are looking for.

Gentry says that although direct-market farming is a hard way to make a living, all the effort is well worth it for farmers and customers.

“I think that the farmers market offers something beyond just buying the food as a commodity that you need for your household,” Gentry says. “It offers a sense of community; people recognize you, people say hi, and they know you by your name.”

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