Shopping at Farmers Markets

The best questions to ask at farmers markets to get the most bang for your buck

Tis the season for farmers markets! Finding a local farmers market in your area can be like finding a gold mine. Here are some tips for shopping at your local farmers market. 

There is a lot of information out there and it can be confusing and almost scary to buy food. I don’t want that to be the case for you (or me) so I have compiled a short list of what to look for at farmers market. Remember, just because you’re at a farmers market in your local town doesn’t mean that the products were grown by the vendor, in the state or even this country. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, just know what you’re buying! 

Throughout the month of July each week will feature a different product (eggs, beef, produce, etc) and what questions to ask to really get what you’re looking for. We were a vendor at a farmers market for a couple years and saw a lot of misrepresentation. Farmers markets should be a great place for you to go and shouldn’t be a scary place. These tips and questions will ensure that you walk away with your products secure in the knowledge you got what you wanted. 

Homegrown?

First, are you looking for a product that is grown locally by the vendor? Every market has different rules and regulations about how far the products can come from. Watch the signs. Most markets require their vendors to use signage about where their products were grown. If you don’t see a sign saying something like “shipped in” or “homegrown”, don’t be afraid to ask the vendor. 

The vendors, are there to serve YOU, the market goer. NEVER be nervous to ask questions-any and all questions. If you don’t feel comfortable asking questions, maybe that’s a sign that you aren’t a good fit with the vendor. At most markets, there are multiple vendors selling the same products, so try another one. Good vendors aren’t there only to sell a product-they are passionate about what they have and what they are growing. They want to share why they are there. They want you to feel confident about your food choices! 

When it comes to asking about where the product was raised, ask these questions:

• -Do you grow your own product?
• Do you have a greenhouse or start your plants inside? (Being aware of seasons in your area is huge. If they have a tomato in early April when markets start in NE KS, chances are they didn’t grow it here or if they did it was grown in a greenhouse.) 
• Do you grow ALL of your products or do you have partner farmers? (If they have partners, how do they grow their products?)
• What kind of facilities do you have to keep animals out? 
• How long ago was this produce picked? 
• What’s the shelf life?
• How long have you been growing vegetables? 

These are just a few simple questions that any vendor worth dealing with should be able to answer or get pretty close to without stumbling over. Again, the choice of what you buy at the farmers market is completely yours. I hope these questions will help you get locally grown vegetables if that is what you’re after.

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