farmers market study

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IsLocalFoodAffordableforOrdinaryFolks?AComparisonofFarmersMarkets

andSupermarketsinNineteenCommunitiesintheSoutheast

AnthonyFlaccavento,SCALE,Inc

November1st,2011

Introduction

The“localfoodsmovement”hasbeengrowingrapidlyforthepastdecadeormore,reaching

communitiesinnearlyeverypartoftheUnitedStates.Asconsumershavebecomemorehealth

consciousandavarietyoffederalprogramshaverecentlybeguntosupportthistrend,people

fromallwalksoflifehavebeguntoshifttheirfoodexpenditurestofarmersmarkets,CSAs,local

grocersandothertypesof“farm-to-consumer”directpurchases.

Farmersmarketshavebeenattheforefrontofthisgrowthinlocalfoods,increasinginnumber

from1,750inthemid-ninetiestomorethan7100in2011(USDAAgricultureMarketing

Service).WhilethebestknownfarmersmarketsareinlargercitieslikeNewYork,Washington,

DCandSeattle,thereareinfacthundredsofmarketsinthesoutheasternUS,Appalachiaand

otherareascomprisedpredominantlyofsmalltomediumsizedtownsandruralareas.

Asthelocalfoodsmovementhasgrown,somehavebeguntocriticizeitas“elitist”,with

expensivefoodslargelyunaffordableforworkingpeople,seniorsonfixedincomesandthe

poor.Farmersmarketsinparticularhaveincreasinglybeencitedforthiscriticism.

Growingoutofboththesuccessoffarmersmarketsandthisgrowingcriticismrelatedtotheir

affordability,SCALE,Incundertookasurveyandanalysisoffarmersmarketsinsixstatesin

AppalachiaandtheSoutheastduringthemonthsofSeptemberandOctober,2011.

SummaryofFindings

Thisstudylookedat24farmersmarketsin19communitiesinsixstates:Virginia,Tennessee,

WestVirginia,Kentucky,NorthCarolinaandSouthCarolina.Communitiesrangedfromunder

10,000inpopulationtoover250,000.Keyfindingsofthisstudyincluded:

1. Overall, farmersmarketsintheSoutheastandAppalachiaarehighlycompetitivewith

mainstreamsupermarkets intheirpricingonarangeofcommonlyconsumedfoods,

includingproduce,meatsandeggs.



2. In74%ofcommunitiesexamined, producewaslessexpensiveatfarmersmarkets

comparedwithsupermarkets,onaverageby22%.

3. In88%ofcommunities,organicproduce–whenavailable-waslessexpensiveat

farmersmarketscomparedwithsupermarkets, onaverageby16%.

4.

Meatsandeggsasagroupweremoreexpensiveatfarmersmarketsineverymarket wheretheywereavailable.Thisdifferencewassmall–10%-whencomparinggrass-

finished/freerangemeatsinbothtypesofmarkets,butmuchlarger–47%-when

comparinggrass-finishedmeatsatfarmersmarketswithconventionallyraisedmeatsat

supermarkets.

5. Overallcost:Simplycomparingtheleastexpensiveitemavailableineithermarket(for

example,afreerangechickenwithaconventionallyraisedchicken), farmersmarkets

weremoreexpensivethansupermarkets52%ofthetime;thesameorlessexpensive

48%ofthetime.Whencomparing“applestoapples”,thatistosay,whenthelowest

pricedcomparableitemwasusedforcomparison, farmersmarketswerethesameor

lessexpensivethansupermarketsin74%ofallcases,byanaverageof12%lowercost.

Methodology

Datawasgatheredat24farmersmarketsin19differentcommunities,lookingatproduct

pricingonarangeoffreshproduce,eggsandmeats.Pricingonthesame(ormostclosely

comparable)itemswasthengatheredfrom2majorsupermarketsinthatsamecommunity,

duringthesameweek.

Theintentofthisanalysiswastoexaminetherelativeaffordabilityoffarmersmarketsfor

“ordinary”people,thatistosaylow,moderateandlowermiddleincomeconsumers.Thus,the

itemsselectedforcostcomparisonwereweightedtowardsmorecommonoreverydayfoods,

includingproduceitemsliketomatoes,bellpeppers,cucumbers,apples,zucchini,butternut

squash,potatoes,etc.Formeats,informationwasgatheredongroundbeef,chicken,eggs,and

insomecases,breakfastsausageandbeefroasts.Afulllistoftheitemsselectediscontainedin

theappendix.Thosedoingthedatagatheringweregivensomeflexibilityastospecificitems,

selectingfromalargerlistofcommonlyeatenfoods,dependinguponwhatwasavailableat

specificmarkets.

Foreachitem,pricingwascollectedfromeveryvendorwhocarriedtheitem.Themedianprice

onthatitemwasthendeterminedforeachmarket.Whereavailable,pricingonorganicitems

wastrackedseparatelyandthesameprocessusedtodeterminethemedianpriceforeachone

ofthese.



Supermarketschosenforthecostcomparisonwereforthemostpartmainstream,including

twonationalchains,KrogerandFoodLion,tworegionalchains,InglesandFoodCity,andto

helpcompareorganicprices,twospecialtychains,WholeFoodsandEarthFare.OneIGAwas

alsousedinthestudy.Thevastmajorityofthesupermarketdatacomesfromthefirstfour,

mainstreamsupermarkets.Foreachpairofsupermarkets,priceswereusedfromthelessexpensiveofthetwo,thusbiasingthepricingcomparisonsomewhatinfavorofthe

supermarkets(basedontheassumptionthatcost-consciousconsumerswouldgenerallychoose

thelowercostsupermarkettothedegreepossible).Thiswasalsotrueforpricingonorganic

items.

Oncedatawascollectedfromthefarmersmarketsandnearbysupermarkets,acomparisonwas

madeofthetotalcostofallitemsattheseparatemarkets.

Oneofthechallengesinthisstudywas“comparability”ortheriskofcomparing“applesand

oranges”.Thiswasaproblemmuchmoresowithmeatitemsthanproduce,asnearlyallofthefarmersmarketmeatswere“grass-finished”,“freerange”(inthecaseofeggsandchickens),or

“pastureraised”(inthecaseofpork).Inseveralcommunities,thesupermarketsdidnotcarry

someorallofthesetypesofmeatsandeggs,socomparisoncouldonlybemadebetweenthe

grassbasedmeatsatthefarmersmarket–whicharenearlyalwaysmoreexpensiveinany

market–andtheconventionallyraisedmeatsinthesupermarket.Wherebothtypesofmeats

wereavailableatsupermarkets,anextralevelofcomparisonwasdrawn.

Anotherchallengewassimplefindingenoughproductsfromwhichtochooseateachmarket.

Thiswasareflectioninsomecasesoflaterarrivalonthemarketday,whensomevendorshad

alreadysoldoutofseveralitems.Inothercases,thedatawasnotgathereduntilearlyOctober,

whenoverallproductavailabilityisgenerallyloweratmarketsintheregion.Thisisalsowhyfall

crops–sweetpotatoes,butternutsquash,potatoes,kale,etc–werealsoincludedonthelist.

LimitsoftheStudy

Thisstudypointstoastrongandrelativelyconsistenttrendamongfarmersmarketsin

AppalachiaandtheSoutheast:Theyaregenerallypricecompetitivewithsupermarketsin

overallpricing,andusuallylessexpensivewhenitcomestoproduceandorganicproduce.However,moretownsandcitiesshouldbesurveyedintheregion,preferablyduringthe“peak

season”ofJuly–Augusttotestthefindingsofthisanalysis.



Additionally,thisstudydoesnotattempttodrawconclusionsabouttherelativeaffordabilityof

farmersmarketsinotherregionsofthecountry,letalonenationally.Somepartsofthecountry

mayechothesefindings,whileothersmaycometoverydifferentconclusions.

Additionalfindingsandobservations

1. Inthissample,farmersmarketsinlargercities(100,000ormoreinthisregion)were

moreexpensiveoverallthansupermarketsin2outof4cases,lowerin1of4,and

virtuallythesamein1of4(Usingthemeasurementofoverallcostofcomparable

products).Eveninthetwocaseswherethesemarketswerehigher,itwasbyrelatively

smallmarginsof12%(Lexington,KY)and5%(Charleston,SC).

2. Amongmediumsizedtownsof40,000–99,999,overallpricingatfarmersmarketswere

virtuallythesameassupermarketsin2of5cases(Greenville/Spartanburg,SCand

ChapelHill,NC),slightlyhigherin2of5cases(Charleston,WVAby5%and

Charlottesville,VAby3%)andslightlylowerin1of5cases(Asheville,NCby5%).

3. Therelativelyhighcostoffree-rangechickensateveryfarmersmarketthatoffered

themsignificantlyincreasedthecostofmeatsatfarmersmarketsrelativeto

supermarkets.Freerangechickensareverypopularatmanymarketsinthesoutheast

andAppalachiaandmostproducersselloutconsistently,usuallyquickly.Thustheprice

isclearlyconsideredreasonable,oratleastworththeextracost,byasubstantial

numberofconsumers.Nevertheless,inthisanalysisthecostofachicken–generally

$4/lb,multipliedbya4poundbird,or$16–wasbyfarthesinglebiggestcontributorto

highercostsforfarmersmarketmeats(Bycomparison,mostconventionalchickensat

supermarketswerefrom$1.29-$1.49perpound,foratotalcostof$5-$6perchicken;

mostsupermarketsinthestudydidnotofferfreerange,wholechickens).Groundbeef,

bycontrast,wasgenerallyquitecloseinprice,aswerefreerangeeggsand,when

available,beefroastsandbreakfastsausage.Hadchickensnotbeenincluded,thecost

competitivenessoffarmersmarketswouldhavebeengreaterstill.

farmers market study

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