farmers' markets in the united states: functional anachronisms

American Geographical Society

Farmers' Markets in the United States: Functional AnachronismsAuthor(s): Jane PyleSource: Geographical Review, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 1971), pp. 167-197Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/213994 .

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The Geographical Review

VOLUME LXI April, 1971 NUMBER 2

FARMERS' MARKETS IN THE UNITED STATES: FUNCTIONAL ANACHRONISMS

JANE PYLE

T HlHE farmers' market or public market, once a major element in the distribution of produce and meat in the United States, exists today in a variety of forms. The present study examines the kinds and func-

tions of markets as they developed in the United States, compares distribu- tions in 1 8 8o, 1918, 1946, and 1969, and accounts for the decline or persistence of the market as an institution. In early stages of development the market tended to favor consumers, or at least markets were established by public officials with this avowed purpose. If this official attitude persisted, the addition of alternative means of supply usually spelled the decline of public markets. If, on the other hand, the attitude shifted subtly toward the protection of the producer or small business man, the market persisted. Arguments for retention of public markets no longer emphasize their function of providing basic necessities to a nonproducing population.

To identify or define a farmers' market is no easy task; for everything that is called a farmers' market may not be one, and other names are given to meetings that have the form and function of a farmers' market. For example, a hypothetical firm may be called the Smithville Farmers' Market, but it may be owned and operated by Mr. Jones, who buys produce from a wholesaler in Metrocenter. Labels that are applied to farmers' markets include municipal market, public market, trade day, court day, first Monday, producers' market, and curb market.

The question of definition vexes any researcher of the institution:

Although the term farmers' produce markets has been used at various times and by various agencies to designate places where nearly all types of farm products have been sold by numerous methods, this study has been limited to places where farmers congregate to sell

> DR. PYLE is associate professor of geography at Mankato State College, Mankato, Minnesota.

Copyright ? 1971 by the American Geographical Society of New York



168 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

their own products .... The most important criterion kept in mind in determining what constitutes a farmers' produce market has been whether farmers themselves sell fruits and vegetables individually or through an auctioneer after bringing them to a given location set aside for that purpose.I

Since the terms municipal markets, public markets, and farmers' markets are used almost interchangeably, the difference should be clarified. The municipal markets consist of places, sites, or buildings owned by a city or other governmental body that rents space or stalls for the sale of food products under municipal supervision. The public markets are not necessarily publicly owned; their method of operation, i.e., renting space or stalls, is similar to that of the municipal market, except that the site or building may be privately owned. The farmers' markets are similar to the public markets, except for the fact that most of the sellers are sup- posed to be farmers.2

Common usage identifies the elements of a market as buyers, sellers, merchandise, and a fixed place and time of exchange. The present study began with a search for former or current municipal niarkets and for regular meetings where producers sold their goods directly to consumers. The variety of these forms, however, necessitated more specific limits. Each element has been considered separately, and arbitrary bounds have been set to circumscribe the observed phenomena.

Buyers. The buyers in the market can be consumers, or they may be buying for resale. Both kinds can be found at a single market; that is, both retail- ing and wholesaling may take place. If the sole activity is wholesaling, the market definition rests with the nature of the seller, that is, he must also be a

producer. Sellers. In most markets, at least some of the vendors are the producers of

the goods they sell. However, the sellers range from the producer who only sells what he has raised, through the vendor who supplements his own produce with purchased goods, to the huckster, or middleman, who buys his

entire line. For this study, the market limited to hucksters is included only if at some time in the past it comprised producer-vendors. Many city markets, for example, no longer have grower-vendors, though a hundred years ago most of the sellers were producers. To be considered a market for this study, the activity must include more than one vendor or firm. This provision is necessary to exclude, for example, roadside stands.

Merchandise. The original intent was to limit the study to places where fruits and vegetables are sold at the present time, and for the most part this

'John L. Wann and others: Farmers' Produce Markets in the United States: Part 1, History and

Description (U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., 1948), p. 1.

2 Morris L. Sweet: History of Municipal Markets, Jouitr. of Hotisinig, Vol. 18, 1961, pp. 23 7-247;

reference on pp. 237-238.



FARMERS' MARKETS 169

provision is followed. No real justification can be found, however, for excluding livestock markets as phenomena of study, since livestock are a typical element of farm production. Still, livestock markets are mentioned only in passing unless produce is or has been sold in them as well. The rule is completely arbitrary and is invoked merely to limit an already diffuse subject. Still other goods are available in many markets considered: furniture, guns, dogs, hooked rugs, clothing, and processed foods such as jellies, pickles, and bread. Markets with these goods for sale are within the definition of farmers' markets as used here if even a few fruits and vegetables are offered for sale, or if the market formerly comprised mostly produce vendors.

Place. A specific location for buying and selling must be an element in the definition in order to exclude the pushcart vendors and peddlers, the egg lady with her weekly route, the huckster who buys a truckload of water- melons to resell on a convenient empty lot, and the farmer who brings a truckload of sweet corn to town, making the rounds of retail stores, wholesalers, andjobbers. The site of the market may be a building or shed specially erected for the market, or it may be a street or empty lot customarily used for the purpose.

Time. The periodicity of markets considered here varies from daily to monthly meetings. The requirement of a fairly frequent and regularly scheduled time of operation also excludes the roadside huckster and, more importantly, excludes the annual fair, which in the United States is more often a display or educational exhibit of farm produce.3 Markets are open from a few hours to as many as twenty-four. Often, the frequency of meeting and hours of operation have changed over the years.

MARKET ORIGINS AND FUNCTIONS

The market forms in the United States have evolved in response to local needs and thus show great variety. However, development proceeded in roughly parallel ways because of the similar purposes for which markets have been established, and these purposes are related to origin.

The functions4 of the market may be grouped under three general head- ings: economic, political, and social. One of the principal economic functions

3 See especially Fred Kniffen: The American Agricultural Fair, Annals Asso. of Amer. Geogrs., Vol. 39, 1949. pp. 264-282, and Vol. 41, 1951 pp. 42-57. The development of European antecedents of the fair is admirably examined by Andre Allix: The Geography of Fairs, Geogr. Rev., VOl. 12, 1922, pp. 532-

569. 4 The concept of "function" is elusive. See Ernest Nagel: The Structure of Science (New York,

1961), pp. 520-535; A. R. Radcliffe-Brown: On the Concept of Function in Social Science, Amer. Anthropologist, Vol. 37, 1935, pp. 394-402; and F. Lukermann: Geography: De Facto or Dejure,Jonrn. Minnesota Acad. of Sci., Vol. 32, 1965, pp. 189-196.




of the market is to provide for the exchange of goods necessary to meet the needs of consumers. The exchange also benefits the producers, who gain their livelihood by this means. Today it is the relative emphasis on either the producers or the consumers that distinguishes different market forms and deter- mines changes in patterns of market location.

Exchange may be either vertical or horizontal. Vertical exchange includes both the concentration of local products for movement toward other con- suming centers (bulking) and the distribution of outside goods to local customers (breaking bulk). Horizontal exchange in its simplest form takes place between producers and consumers and may arise from either environmental or cultural differences. Exchange need not take place in a market, but the activities of the market have the function-often the primary function-of exchange.

In the ideal situation, market exchange is equally and mutually beneficial to producers and consumers. But static equilibrium between supply and demand is rarely characteristic of the market situation, and political authority was invoked early in the history of market activities to maintain the balance of power or mutual benefits. The balance is maintained by giving protection either to the consumer or to the producer, and the political authority has the added benefit of demonstrating its own power by enforcing the regulations that govern the market. Early state control over markets was intended to provide goods at a fair price for the benefit of the people and was extended to regulate weights and measures, to designate time and place, to establish courts to settle disputes, and to order the arrangement of goods within the market. Marketplaces in ancient Greek cities were controlied by special boards. The Roman senate claimed the right to establish markets. 5 During the Middle Ages kings continued to claim the right to establish markets, though the authority was often delegated to individuals, to towns, and especially to the church.

Perhaps the most important role of the market was to supply town populations with provisions needed for daily life, but it also served as a source of revenue to its sponsor. The importance of revenues accruing to a town from its market was not lost on the town fathers in the early days of America.

However, ordinances establishing markets more often emphasized the benefits of cheapness and convenience to the consumer.

Although the producer was not entirely ignored by market regulations

5 Vernon A. Mund: Open Markets (New York, 1948), p. S.



FARMERS MARKETS 171

that chiefly benefited the consumer (kings and common-law courts gave protection to people going to or from markets),6 the producer-seller was generally considered to be able to take care of himself. Only in more recent years has the possibility been recognized that the market extends a hidden subsidy to the sellers in the form of reduced overhead, and that while the consumer may seem to benefit by lower prices, as a taxpayer he is supporting some merchants at the expense of others. More clearly to the benefit of the producers are private, corporation, or state-supported markets established to facilitate vertical exchange.

Two contrasting hypotheses have been advanced to account for the origin of the market. 7The more widely accepted is grounded on the assumption that maximization is a valid and primary motive of behavior, leading directly to a propensity to bargain. According to this hypothesis, markets begin with smali-scale trade, or horizontal exchange, between groups in contrasting environmental settings. Growth of population and development of technology permit, and even encourage, an increasing scale of activities, and the process culminates in international trade. The growth of formal markets results, then, from a broadening scope of exchange, which decreases personal ties between the buyer and the seller and requires control by political authority.

The antithetical hypothesis, which virtually reverses the order of events, is based on the premise that men in similar circumstances have no need to exchange goods through formal or informal markets. Rather, the political rulers, who received goods in a vertical chain from their followers, institute trade relations with each other. At first this exchange is nurtured and protected from competition at the state level; gradually the practice is copied in marketplaces on the local level, first along trade routes and later away from them as well.

As a phenomenon transferred from established Old World customs, the market institution in the United States sheds no further light on market origins, except as it supports the hypothesis of instituted markets. The market continues to serve the functions of provisioning urban populations and ex- changing goods from different physical environments. Other institutions also

6 Sweet, op. cit. [see footnote 2 above], p. 237. 7 B. W. Hodder: Some Comments on the Origins of Traditional Markets in Africa South of the

Sahara, Inst. of British Geogrs. Trans., No. 36, 1965, pp. 97-105; Marvin W. Mikesell: The Role of Tribal Markets in Morocco, Geogr. Rev., Vol. 48, 1958, pp. 494-511; Karl Polanyi, Conrad M. Arensberg, and Harry W. Pearson, edits.: Trade and Market in the Early Empires (Glencoe, Ill., 1957).




operate to meet these functions, of course; trading posts, peddlers, the general store, and independent tradesmen of all kinds provided similar functions in early American life, and additional means (especially the supermarket) evolved as the society developed.

EARLY AMERICAN MARKETS

The first market of record in the English colonies was established in Boston in 1634 by an order of Governor John Winthrop,8 and a wooden building was erected there in 1658.9 Founding dates of markets frequently are open to question, partly because street markets were not graced with the name and partly because the market was so taken for granted that nobody paid much attention to its establishment. The Bureau of the Census made a study of municipal markets in 1918, which listed the date of the city's incorporation, the founding of open markets, and the founding of enclosed markets,I1 but from it one would conclude that markets did not exist in America before 1742. However, another source indicates that "about 1700 there wer eg other markets [in addition to Boston's] in New England, 10 in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and one in the South.""I

Early markets continued the Old World tradition of markets established by political authority to provision an urban population. New York had two market houses before 1686, and five more before the Montgomerie Charter of 1731 .12 William Penn planned a weekly market for Philadelphia.'3 Land was donated to Lancaster for a marketplace in 1730, and its use was confirmed by George II in the charter establishing Lancaster as a borough in 1742.14 Cincinnati's first market was built in 18oi .'5 Shortly before incorporation in 1814, Cleveland's village trustees passed an ordinance regulating markets, and four were operating in 1837.16 In many towns founded in the colonial period or in the early days of independence the marketplace is now acknowl-

8 Wann and others, op. cit. [see footnote 1 above], p. 4. 9 Sweet, op. cit. [see footnote 2 above], p. 238.

IO "Municipal Markets in Cities Having a Population of Over 30,000, 1918," U.S. Bureau of the

Census, Washington, D. C., 1919. I, Wann and others, op. cit. [see footnote 1 above], p. 4. I2 Arthur E. Goodwin: Markets: Public and Private (Seattle, 1929), p. 22.

13 Sweet, op. cit. [see footnote 2 above], p. 238. 14 "City Market Study" (Lancaster City Planning Commission; Lancaster, Pa., 1963), pp. 5-6. '5 Charles T. Greve: Centennial History of Cincinnati and Representative Citizens (Chicago, 1904),

Vol. 1, pp. 502-503. I6 C. J. Otten and others: The Central Retail Food Market of Cleveland, Ohio (Cleveland, 1950),

p. 5.



FARMERS MARKETS 173

edged only by a street name. In fact, "nearly every town of any importance had its market place where farmers brought their farm products for sale to or exchange with the folks in the city."'7

In the more diffused power structure of a democracy where the desires of different elements of the constituency conflict, the fate of markets was subject to political debate. Not only were demands made for cheap, clean food but feelings were also vocalized about the beautification of the town, advantageous positions for businesses other than food supply, and the unequal treatment of market vendors and other food suppliers. To initiate a beneficial system of food distribution, a prominent citizen often donated a tract of land with the deed specifying that it was to be used "forever" as a market. Fre- quently such restrictions prompt litigation as the market declines in proportion to other sources of food supply and as constituents consider alternative uses for market locations."8

In 1904 Roland H. Shumway donated a tract of land to Rockford, Illinois, with the proviso that the city would put the site in suitable condition for a "public market place where the customer could deal directly with the farmer, gardener and all who produce for sale the necessities of life."'9 A small building that was erected to house the market master, three firms, and comfort stations is still on the site (Fig. 1); however, the marketing privilege is seldom exercised, and the space has been paved for dual use as a parking lot. Never- theless, no court judgment has been sought, and the city council voted in favor of keeping the market.20

An earlier example of conflicting interests among the citizenry is drawn from Philadelphia, where two petitions were made to the city council in 1773. One asked for improvement of facilities on Market Street; the other, signed by all residents of the area, opposed any structure that might further impede traffic. The council ignored the petition of the property-holding residents and ordered a new shed built, but the resident petitioners were not so easily defeated. They removed building materials from the site, and work was halted until the council finally ordered the construction stopped. After the

I Wann and others, op. cit. [see footnote 1 above], p. 3. iS The Fifth Street Market in Cincinnati, which was the subject of such litigation, was removed

quickly after the state supreme court ruled in favor of the city, which had received a gift of a piece of statuary and needed a place to put it. About fifty butchers and others who were using the dilapidated building arrived one morning to find it already being torn down (Greve, op. cit. [see footnote 15 above], p. 870).

I9 Rockford Star, July 8, 1945.

20Ibid., March 31, 1960.




Revolution, work was begun again and this time completed. Not until 1859 were the market sheds removed to make way for streetcar tracks.21

The differences of opinion over markets may be summarized briefly. The common reason given for market establishment is that it provides low-cost

r TER ~ RC

FIG. i-Shumway market house, Rockford, Illinois.

space, which induces the farmer to bring merchandise to a central location as a benefit to the consumer. Lower prices are expected because there is no middleman, many producers compete for the consumer'9s patronage, and overhead costs are at a mmnimum. The benefits are extended outside the market, where other sellers must meet the competition of lower market prices. Those opposed to this line of reasoning argue that the consumer as taxpayer supports one set of producers (those who sell on the market) at the expense of another set (those who rent space in open competition with other businesses). Other constituents complain of unsightly or unsanitary conditions of the market and demonstrate their impatience with traffic congestion by buying elsewhere. In recent times, municipalities pondering the question of continued market operation have taken into consideration not only these conflicting

21 Sweet, op. cit. [see footnote 2 above], p. 238.



FARMERS MARKETS 175

interests but also the value of the market as a tourist attraction, as a link between rural and urban milieus, and as a social force. The changing pattern of distribution of markets reflects the decisions reached over such conflicts.

FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF MARKETS

Data on the historical distribution of markets in the United States are fragmentary. Three studies give information that can be mapped to reveal a developing pattern of market locations and that can be analyzed to trace the changing role of markets. These sources are not strictly comparable, and their limitations should be noted. The 188o census undertook a survey of cities, which included a section devoted to market facilities.22 The survey was conducted by questionnaire, usually completed by city officials, and the answers varied from detailed reports to no comment. Cities as small as Beloit, Wis- consin (population 4790), replied to the questionnaire, and places as large as Minneapolis (population 46,887) did not furnish information. In 1918 the Census Bureau conducted a special study of municipal markets in cities of more than 30,000 population.23 Although it was more complete than the 188o survey, it neglected both small cities and cities with private or corporation markets but no municipal market. The third study, made by the Depart- ment of Agriculture in 1946,24 is the most detailed and proved helpful in locating markets still in operation in 1969. It includes markets under all types of management and control and in places of all sizes. However, it gives no clues about the importance of markets in terms of numbers of vendors or frequency of operation. None of the studies provides data for a systematic analysis of sales volume.

Errors were found in all three sources, and some attempt was made to adjust the information on the maps (Figs. 2-4). For example, the Minneapolis market is omitted from both the 1 88o and 1918 data, but the 1946 study shows that the market was established in 1876; Cleveland's West Side Market is not mentioned in the 1946 study, though it has been in operation continuously since before 1870.25 In the same study several markets with both wholesale and retail activities are identified only as wholesale markets. In mapping locations in 188o, the year for which data are most deficient, information from other sources has been incorporated, but the map is still incomplete.

22 Tenth Census of the United States, 188o: Vol. 18, Social Statistics of Cities, Parts I and II, U. S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1886.

23 Municipal Markets in Cities Having a Population of Over 30,000, 1918 [see footnote to abovel. 24 Wann and others, op. cit. [see footnote l above]. 25 Otten and others, op. cit. [see footnote A6 above], pp. 6-7.




MARKETS IN 188o

By the end of the nineteenth century almost half of the cities reporting indicated that no municipal or corporation markets were present. Their importance was beginning to decline in the urban areas of the New England states (Fig. 2). The market in Portland possessed a building and open space for wagons, but the informant considered trade unimportant and estimated that go percent of the food supply came from private stores. New Bedford's market house had been remodeled as an office building, and in Providence "a portion of two or three streets is used under a few restrictions by vendors of vegetables, etc., but with no great regularity."26 The decline was also noted in some older towns of the Midwest. Cincinnati's mayor reported that markets were decadent and could be demolished with no great inconvenience.27 He claimed that most of the sellers were hucksters or middlemen, and that the market's original purpose of providing the consumer with cheap supplies no longer was met. Across the river at Newport, Kentucky, the informant estimated that only a small part of the retail supply was obtained from the market.28

At no time did the market have a monopoly on food distribution, though the establishment of markets seemed to follow the establishment of cities in the South and Midwest, and municipal ordinances sometimes went so far as to forbid open sale of competitive products during market hours. In 188o markets supplied about one-third of the meat, fish, poultry, and vegetables to Lexington, Memphis, Nashville, and Augusta. In Kansas City, Missouri, an estimated two-thirds of the vegetables and one-fifth of the meat were furnished from markets. In York, Pennsylvania, where the central market is still flourishing, the informant estimated that public and private markets supplied ten times as many people as private shops did. Protection was extended to market vendors in several ways: Memphis prohibited stores within a quarter of a mile of its markets; all meat had to be sold through the market in Austin, Texas; Selma, Alabama, Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Toledo, Ohio, all prohibited peddling or huckstering on the streets during market hours.

The pattern of declining importance of city produce markets followed, with several notable exceptions, the improvement of transportation, the growth of cities, and the specialization of agriculture. By i88o New Bedford,

26 Tenth Census of the United States, 188o [see footnote 22 abovel, Vol. 18, Part I, p. 377. 27 Ibid., Part lI, p. 371. 28 Ibid., Part II, p. 133.



FARMERS MARKETS 177

0U N TARIO

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FARMERS MARKETS 179

Massachusetts, received beef purchased in Chicago and shipped on ice, rather than beef from the Brighton Market in Boston. As cities grew, retail functions of city markets were often replaced by wholesalers in central locations and by neighborhood grocers. The markets themselves were also decentralized. Philadelphia's central market was demolished in 1859 and was replaced by thirty-five or forty separate buildings at scattered locations; Baltimore's decentralized market system provided the nuclei for later commercial districts.29 Not all plans for neighborhood markets were successful: Salt Lake City, with a population of only 20,768 in 188o, planned such an arrangement but met so much opposition that the buildings and grounds were sold.30

The distribution of markets in 188o may be summarized as regionally strong in the South and in the Northeast (except for New England, where markets had ceased to play an important role in urban food supply). In the Midwest, markets were being established in new cities and were declining in the old ones. In the Far West development was only just beginning, and markets were virtually nonexistent.

MARKETS IN 1918

The distribution of markets in 1918 was about the same as that for 188o

(Fig. 3). Almost half of the 240 cities in the census survey were reported to maintain municipal markets. Cities of more than 100,000 population were much more likely to have a market; about two-thirds of the larger cities maintained one or more markets, and the proportion in cities of the South, the Midwest, and the Far West was even higher. The decline of markets in New England continued to the point that few towns maintained markets, though the decline is obscured by the reestablishment of open-air markets as a wartime measure in 1916 and 1917. All but three of the markets shown for New England in 1918 were apparently temporary expedients and had disappeared by 1946.

Municipal markets combined wholesale with retail businesses. Only two out of 118 cities with markets reported exclusively wholesale operations. Markets in the larger cities were generally open six days a week. Smaller places might also have daily meetings, but more often their markets took place three times a week. The hours of operation were usually from dawn to noon, though some closed by midmorning. The number of vendors who

29 1. K. Rolph: The Location Structure of Retail Trade (Washington, D. C., 1933), p. 14. 30 Tenth Census of the United States, 188o [see footnote 22 above], Vol. 18, Part II, p. 833.



18o THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

could be accommodated varied enormously, yet there appears to have been no clear relationship between market size and city size. Some enclosed markets had places for fewer than twenty-five vendors, and markets with places for more than a hundred were rare. The Los Angeles municipal market, which opened in 1914 for retail business, was reported to have places for no more than fifty vendors, while the Indianapolis market could accommodate six hundred and the Rochester, New York, market twelve hundred.

The distribution in 1918 indicates that although the process of decline continued, the market remained as a source of fresh produce and in hard times could be reinstituted. No generalizations can be made about the proportion of the total food supply distributed through markets. Wholesaling in general

had become well established, and at least one source suggests that the "vast distribution system . . . required only minor contact between a farmer and consumer for food sales."3' If this were true, the number of farmers' markets in 1946 is all the more remarkable.

MARKETS IN 1946

The study made by the Department of Agriculture in 1946 classified markets into four major types and analyzed their occurrence in four geographical areas. The present discussion departs from this study in several

particulars. The regions identified in previous sections are maintained, two of the market types are combined, and another is dismissed. The least important of the market types classified by the Department of Agriculture study is the women's home demonstration market. Most of these were organized in the

19305S, and their transitory success was probably attributable to depression conditions. They never involved large numbers of people or volumes of

produce, and they largely disappeared when the original organizers retired.

Of the 208 markets of this type that were reported, i88 were in the South, where they added handicrafts and home-cooked items such as bread, jelly, and pickles to the usual goods offered for sale in farmers' markets. The few

women's home demonstration markets that survived are no different from

retail farmers' markets and will be mentioned briefly in connection with current markets.

The 1946 study differentiated between city wholesale and retail markets, but the distinction is difficult to make and the two are grouped together here.

According to the study, 110 wholesale and 291 retail markets were in

operation in 1946. Judging from the size of some of the towns listed, the

31 "The Lansing Municipal Market Study" (City Planning Commission; Lansing, Mich., 1968), p. 7.



FARMERS MARKETS 181

i L . ONr~~~ARIO 11y

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viability of many markets in Pennsylvania and Michigan could be questioned. The smaller markets seem to come and go, as I discovered in seeking out examples during field research. The markets in the Pennsylvania towns of Oil City (population 20,379) and Chambersburg (14,852) were either entirely or almost defunct, while those in Punxsutawney and Clarion had started up since 1946. There was some uncertainty whether either would continue for long.

Despite such doubts, the accounting in the Department of Agriculture study is accepted for present purposes. Nineteen markets are reported in eighteen places in New England, all but four of them wholesale markets (Fig. 4). The minor role played by markets in this region appears obvious, though no data are given for volume of business. In the rest of the North- east, eighty-seven places had 156 markets, slightly more than half of all the farmers' wholesale and retail markets in the United States. The original study describes the markets as follows:

The enclosed market-markets which rent stalls or booths inside market buildings to farmers and other sellers-is the predominant type of retail market in the area. Most of the larger cities in Pennsylvania had one or more markets of this type, and Baltimore, with 1 l, had more farmers' markets than any other city in the country. In many of the indoor markets in the Northeast, small fruit and vegetable dealers have largely replaced farmers as sellers. However, in many other markets farmers are still the principal sellers. Pennsylvania is so well covered with these markets that perhaps a majority of the housewives in the State are within easy driving distance of one or more of them. They are important outlets for meat, butter, eggs, cheese, poultry, and home-cooked items in addition to fruits and vegetables. In general, the same applies to New York State except that there are only about one-third as many as in Pennsylvania.32

In the Midwest the concentration of markets in Michigan, Wisconsin, and

Indiana is notable. One hundred three places had 129 markets, with multiple markets in Milwaukee, Detroit, Evansville, and the larger cities of Ohio. "A

large proportion of the retail markets were outdoor markets operating only in the summer months. Many were held on streets or vacant lots, but some

had sheds. With the exception of a few in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, not

many had large, substantial enclosed buildings similar to Pennsylvania markets."33

In the southern states the distribution of seventy-one markets in fifty- three places covers a large area and includes most of the major cities. "The South had about the same number of farmers' city wholesale markets as the

32 Wann and others, op. cit. [see footnote 1 above], p. lo. 33 Ibid., p. 13.



FARMERS MARKETS 183

Northeast, but most of these markets were located in relatively small cities compared with the Northeast and, therefore, averaged a smaller volume of business. However, a few like Atlanta, Ga., New Orleans, La., and Houston and Dallas, Tex. compared favorably in size with some of the larger markets in the North."34 The addition of farm women's markets to the map would give a misleading view of the importance of markets in the South, but perhaps no more misleading than identifying the fair-weather markets of Michigan and Wisconsin. More appropriate would have been an identifica- tion of curb markets and courthouse squares traditionally used for buying and selling; however, since these are also traditionally unorganized, they were not recognized as markets by Wann.

In the Far West twenty-one markets were found in eighteen places. This seems a small number, but virtually all places of at least 1oo,ooo population were included.

The fourth major type of market identified in the Department of Agricul- ture study is the shipping-point or assembly market (Fig. 5). Its functions are to concentrate sufficient volumes of fruits and vegetables to attract buyers, to provide local producers with a cash outlet for goods, to provide buyers with the quantities required, and to establish local prices. 35 Such markets are located near production centers, notably in the intensive truck-crop zone of New Tersey, Delaware, and Maryland, and through the Carolinas and Georgia, into Florida. Unorganized shipping-point markets are reported from early in the century; organized auction markets began in the east about 1912.

"Energetic promotion of cooperatively owned auction markets in the New Jersey vegetable and fruit producing areas"36 began in the late 1920's, and state sponsorship of farm markets began in Florida in the 1930 S. In Wisconsin the concentration of shipping-point markets reflects efforts to set up assembly points for feeder-pig sales and is also an outgrowth of the stock fairs that flourished in the nineteenth century. The shipping-point market is of relatively recent origin; of the 115 such markets operating in 1946, eighty-eight had begun after 1930, and thirty-seven of these after 1940.37

Although the total number of retail and wholesale markets probably

34 Ibid. 35 Roger F. Burdette, Imogene Bright, and Charles K. Baker: Farmers' Produce Markets in the

United States: Part 3, Shipping Point Fruit and Vegetable Markets (U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., 1952), p. 15.

36 Ibid., p. 8. 37 Wann and others, op. cit. [see footnote 1 above], p. 39. A later part of this market study con-

centrated on shipping-point markets and eliminated the Wisconsin system, reducing the number of markets to 99 (Burdette, Bright, and Baker, op. cit. [see footnote 35 above]).




remains about the same as in the earlier periods, the relative importance of the market in food distribution has drastically declined. The development of assembly markets is most noteworthy. It marks a shift in emphasis from con-

SHIPPING-POINT MARKETS 0 100 200 Miles

1946 6 160 200 Kilometers

1000 90 80?

.._.._.....<.. k 7

J *

-300~~~~~~~~~~~~-

GULF O EI

GE6GR. REV APR., 1971 90

FIG 5-Shipping-point markets 1946 Data from Wann and other: Farmers' Prod- uce Markets in the United States (see text footnote 1for reference), Appendix A.

cern for the consumer to assistance for the producer or at least to recognition of his interests in the distribution process

MARKETS IN 1969

From the marketplaces in most early towns in America, there remain to-

day many evolved forms. A classification of present markets by functions would produce two types, one providing benefits to the producer and the other favoring the consumer, though of course, the economic functions of

balancing supply and demand are not, and never have been, separate. City



FARMERS MARKETS 185

retail markets continue to benefit the consumer, but the monetary gains go either to the producer, if he still sells directly, or to the small businessman, who is protected from the competitition of mass distribution systems. Meet- ing the competition more directly, small producers capitalize on market arrangements by shifting their activities from the town market to the shipping-point market. Evolution through specialization is evident in the separa- tion of producers and consumers in this new form of market.

Five kinds of farmers' markets may be distinguished in a formal classification: city retail markets, wholesale produce markets (terminal markets), shipping-point markets, courthouse square markets or trading days, and livestock auctions. A few examples will illustrate each of these forms.

CITY RETAIL MARKETS

The present city retail market may represent the continuation of a private or municipal market of early founding, or it may be a successful survivor of a market started by a women's home demonstration group or a county agent in the 1930's, or it may be still more recent.

Indianapolis, incorporated in 1847, had two markets during its early years. A building was constructed in the 1870's, which eighty years later had fallen into disrepair. Not only were the facilities poorly maintained and unsanitary, but management was poor and morale among the vendors low. Although the land had been deeded to the city for use as a market, a court ruled that the property could be used for another purpose, and plans were discussed for its sale or conversion. The present market master was one of a group of interested citizens who campaigned for the preservation of the market, partly to save a landmark building still reasonably sound, and partly to support the small businessman in general and the firms in the market in particular. The citizens' efforts were successful; the mayor gave public assurance that the market would continue, and the city council amended the market code to permit expanded operations. Acceptance of the market as a landmark building, which is still under consideration, would give it the full protection of federal and state law.

Fifty businesses now operate stands in the remodeled market, and several of the vendors are third-generation owners of space, though none produce the goods they sell. Fruits, vegetables, and meat occupy more space than other items; however, a wide variety of additional merchandise is offered. Both imported food specialties and general grocery items underscore the broad cross section of the patrons. The market was formerly open three days a week, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, but recently Friday was added, and




there are plans to open on Wednesday as well. Saturday remains the most important business day, with an estimated five to ten thousand customers; attendance dips to some two thousand on Tuesdays. The refurbished image of the market (Fig. 6) is intended to attract tourists and suburbanites to the downtown area. Plans call for the addition of a handicraft workshop and salesroom, landscaping, and a rathskeller.38

Cleveland's West Side Market is located on land that has been used for a market since 1858,39 and the present building dates from 1912. It accom- modates about a hundred stalls inside and another hundred in open arcades along the north and east sides of the building. Interior stands are largely devoted to meat, poultry, and dairy products, while fresh produce is sold outside. Several stands feature Polish, German, Hungarian, and other national specialties, and some claim that the market owes its prosperity to nearby ethnic groups, whose traditions include market shopping. Weekly attendance at the market, which is open four days a week, is estimated at 3 5,000 to 40,000 people. The city's annual receipts are roughly $300,000 from rental of stalls and cold-storage lockers.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has two municipal markets, each with a capacity of about two hundred stalls.40 One hundred individuals or firms rent space in

the Central Market on a permanent basis. There are many fewer permanent tenants in the Southern Market, where the proportion of farmer-vendors is higher. Farmers with only'a small business have been pushed out of the Cen- tral Market by purchase prices up to $2500 for stalls, which are sold at auction annually. Apart from tourists an estimated 15,000-25,000 people visit the Central Market weekly. The Southern Market, which is open only on Saturday, attracts 5ooo-8ooo persons. Net income to the city from the operation of the markets was $46,ooo in 1961; however, maintenance costs are not figured in the accounting, and major repairs require city-council action. The planning commission had recommended major renovation of the Central Market in the early 1960'S, including the construction of a balcony for sightseers, and the elimination of the Southern Market in favor of one facility more intensively used. In 1969 both markets were still in use, and no visible modernization had taken place.

The Jackson, Mississippi, Farmers Central Market opened in 1948, and is

38 Personal interview with the market master, 1969. 39 The description is based on observations, personal interviews with the Commissioner of Markets,

and Otten and others, op. cit. [see footnote 16 above]. 40 City Market Study [see footnote 14 above]. Personal observations and interviews supplement data

from this report.



FARMERS MARKETS 187

, I

FI.6--City Market, Indianapolis, Indiana.

*~~~~ A* - F' e

FIG. 7-Relocated wholesale produce market, Louisville, Kentucky.




in operation from early spring until late fall. It is bound by regulations that are intended to protect the small businessman-farmer-and that are effective in keeping him small. Only Mississippi farmers may rent space, a maximum of twenty feet is permitted to each vendor, and only produce of the type grown in Mississippi may be sold.4' Although the market was envisioned as a wholesale produce market, it was unsuccessful because the volume was in- sufficient to attract buyers.42 At present about twenty stalls are open for retail sales, and space is available for the occasional truckload of produce. Farmers from about fifty counties use the market occasionally, but it serves primarily as an outlet for a few central Mississippi counties. Three-fourths of the vendors come more than 50 miles to market; none live less than 25 miles away nor more than go miles. The Jackson market is the only market set up under state auspices under an enabling act passed in 1946. The state commissioner of agriculture continues to speak of embryonic plans for additional markets as incentives to farmers. A 1966 study based on theJackson experience, however, points out that "providing facilities for farmer stalls offers only very limited opportunities of establishing a commercial fresh vegetable industry in Mississippi."43

CITY WHOLESALE MARKETS

The more modern city wholesale produce terminals can only marginally be considered farmers' markets. Direct sales from farmers have shifted from the city market to shipping-point markets and cooperatives nearer the source of production.44 Still, few wholesale markets do not have some provision for farmers bringing in produce, and many have facilities for direct sales to consumers, either in wholesale quantity or in odd lots.

In Minneapolis the first public market was established in 1876, with both wholesalers and retailers renting space from a private individual.45 Some

4I "General Rules, Regulations, and Policies for Operation of the Farmers Sheds as Adopted by the Market Board for 1969" (Farmers Central Market;Jackson, Miss., mimeographed). The wording of the regulations permits farmers to supplement their own produce by purchasing similar commodities but

limits the variety of goods available to the consumer. 42 A. D. Seale, Jr.: The Commercial Vegetable Industry in Mississippi, Miss. Agric. Experiment

Station, AEc. M. R. No. 48, 1966, p. 7. 43 Ibid., p. 9. 44 "Wholesale Produce Markets" (American Society of Planning Officials, Planning Advisory

Service, Chicago, 1955), p. 3. A rough estimate based on Table I in this report gives farmers 17 percent

of total volume. 45 Abner L. Johnson: The Minneapolis Central Public Market, in The Marketing of Farm Products

(edited by H. Bruce Price; Minneapolis, 1927), pp. 201-227; referenice on p. 203. Additional information is

from observation and interviews with vendors.



FARMERS' MARKETS 189

forty retail dealers occupied the first floor of a building near the center of town, and on busy days farmers lined the curbs for several blocks around. In 1927 the market was owned and controlled by a commercial corporation and regulated by the city, which appointed a market master. Goods not typical of the region were forbidden, in order to protect local growers. In the late 1930'S the market, then completely under municipal control, was moved away from the center of town to a location where nine open sheds had been erected. By 1969 only three sheds were still standing, of which only two were used.

In earlier days about three-fourths of the sellers lived within lo miles of the market; growers today live between 20 and 40 miles away. In 1968 the market was leased by the city to the Minnesota Growers Association after the city council debated closing the operation. All goods are sold by producers and are thus limited to what is in season. About seventy-five spaces are rented for the season, which starts in late April and ends about Halloween, and an additional hundred producers come occasionally, paying a daily rental fee. Local wholesale firms that supply chain and neighborhood grocery stores are the principal weekday buyers, and on Saturdays retail sales predominate. On an early-autumn Saturday, the market was already crowded at 7:30 a.m. and was still crowded at 11 :oo a.m. Flowers and shrubs as well as a wide variety of fall fruits and vegetables were available. Retail prices were the same or higher than those in the chain stores, and business was brisk. An estimated 150 automobiles were parked around the market during the morning, and the average shopper stayed about half an hour, often taking two or three loads to the car during this time. The market manager, who at the beginning of the summer had been rather gloomy in forecasting the market's future, attributed the successful season to radio and television advertising.

Louisville's wholesale produce market, owned and operated by a corporation in which some of the stockholders were also standholders, was displaced in the 1950's by the construction of access roads to a major crosstown freeway. It was relocated on a more spacious site several miles fronm the city center and was planned and built to meet the increasing needs of a large city. However, some of the standholders in the old market, not wanting to give up the central location and established clients, formed a new corporation and bought a nearby block to continue operations (Fig. 7). Part of the block is rented to wholesale produce dealers, part to a chain grocery, and part is used for an open shed occupied by five firms, though spaces are numbered to twenty- five. Parking space is rented to truck farmers by the day. One farmer, who




had been coming to the market for fifty years, lived 17 miles away and came to the market two or three times a week. The market is open continuously, with much of the business transacted during the early morning hours. Retail sales are negligible.

SHIPPING-POINT MARKETS

Both private and state-supported shipping-point markets are found throughout the East and the South (Fig. s); they are notably absent in the Far West, probably because of the relatively few small growers.. Weston, West Virginia, has one of the four regional farmers' markets in that state. The market is on the edge of town, with ample parking space, and occupies a modern concrete building with a loading platform along the south side, a large salesroom, and controlled-temperature storage facilities. Under the direction of a lively, dedicated manager, it serves well the two principal purposes for which the market system was established in 1949-to educate small farmers in marketing techniques and to provide collection points for agricultural products in quantities large enough to attract buyers. Private sales are made every day but Wednesday, when produce is auctioned. The manager not only acts as auctioneer but also finds buyers for the better quality merchandise and gives advice on varieties of produce that will sell. The market is not expected to be highly successful in terms either of sales or of volume. Once the farmers have learned and have become efficient, they no longer use it but deal directly with wholesalers. As a result, goods reaching the market often are culls, are ungraded, or are packaged in nonstandard containers. About 140 farmers use the market over the course of a year.

In 1968, with the help of the county agent, sixty-nine growers organized a corporation that provided sufficient capital to build a farmers' market near Tupelo, Mississippi. The building has a retail store as well as a packing area with equipment for shelling peas and sorting cucumbers. In the first year of operation, only cucumbers were marketed through the corporation, and peas and peppers were added in the second year. Although it was conceived as a shipping-point market, most of the crops are now contracted for, and the market does little more than sort and package crops. The retail part lost so much in the first year that it was leased to a local businessman, who must buy outside the state to maintain a variety of produce. The location, five miles outside of town, is easily accessible to truckers but is scarcely convenient for shoppers.

One of the largest markets in the United States is the State Farmers' Market in Atlanta, which combines the functions of a shipping-point



FARMERS MARKETS 191

,~~~~~~~~~~~~- - ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - - ---

_~_____ ~-~S

.-AJAPRPW.

LX V .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Il

FIG. 8-State Farmers' Market, Atlanta, Georgia. (Photograph courtesy of Sam Steele, Manager.)

.... --i- - -

FIG 9*Courthouse square market, Hamilton, Ohio.




market, a city wholesale produce terminal, and a retail market. Gross sales in 1968 amounted to $58 million, of which $7 million was from Georgia-grown produce, $41 million was from produce grown outside the state, and the rest from miscellaneous items such as plants, nuts, and meats. The market occupies a spacious site 10 miles south of Atlanta and provides excellent facilities for loading and unloading truck and rail shipments. About half the area is used by wholesale dealers or jobbers; the other half, comprising eighteen open sheds with a thousand stalls, is used for wholesale and retail sales by growers (Fig. 8). About 340 growers use the market. The manager reported that the retail section was overbuilt, and that he was considering opening part of it to vendors of nonproduce items (already the space had been used for a mobile home show and an antique show), but what he described sounded more like the flea market now growing in popularity elsewhere.

COURTHOUSE SQUARE MARKETS

Trading on the courthouse grounds has a long tradition.46 Often an informal custom, it has in some instances become more formal in meeting on specific days. Monthly trade days or court-day sales continue throughout much of Tennessee and neighboring parts of Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi. In Kentucky, where "court day" is the common label, the tradition is traced to the circuit-court schedule. According to local lore in Mississippi, "trade day" began shortly after the Civil War. Stores supplied credit starting the first of April, and farm folk coming to town for supplies to start the season brought goods to trade. Trade day was repeated in the fall when crops were in and accounts had to be settled. For no clear reason, the "first day" of credit became the first day of every month and now takes place on a first Monday or first Tuesday.

For more than a hundred years vendors have been selling produce and other goods around the courthouse in Hamilton, Ohio (Fig. 9). Although many smaller cities have abandoned open markets, market privileges have been maintained in Hamilton, a city of 72,000, primarily through the efforts of a local newspaperman, whose feature articles have aroused in- terest in the tradition. In the late 1940'S the city administration considered forbidding sales around the square because of traffic congestion. No new licenses were issued from 1951 to 1961, and the number of spaces rented

46 Edward T. Price: The Central Courthouse Square in the American County Seat, Geogr. Rev'., Vol. j8, 1968, pp. 29-6D; reference on pp. 56-57



PARMERS MARKETS 193

f. ~~ '. -. .[ti.r

(~~~~~~~

iox

FIG. lo-Fur market, Spencer, Indiana. (Photograph by T. Perry Wesley, Spencer Evening World.)

droped rom148 to 47; at present only 29 are rented. Manufactured goods are specifically forbidden, but produce may be either home-grown or purchased. Flowers, eggs, baked goods, and fresh fruits and vegetables are sold from trucks or automobiles and from tables set up on the sidewalk. Selling is permitted on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from sunrise until noon. Most of the vendors are old-timers who have sold on the square from twenty to fifty years.4

The Spencer, Indiana, fur market is a unique example of surviving courthouse-square markets. It is open only for three winter months. The market rarely has more than half a dozen buyers, and sellers outnumber the buyers about four to one. All collect on the south lawn of the courthouse on Satur- days to trade in furs-mostly fox, raccoon, and muskrat-from animals trapped in the nearby wooded hills (Fig. io). Although prices average only 2$

cents a pelt, there seems to be little danger that the market will die out; the

47 Within the last three years,, however, at least one couple has begun selling,, partly to dispose of surplus garden produce and partly to help perpetuate what they consider a colorful local tradition. The young couple arrive on Saturday mornings with garden produce, eggs from a commercial producer, and freshly dressed rabbits. They commenced selling sooni after their children acquired a pair of rabbits, with expected but overwhelming results.




sport of dickering over prices and the social exchange are enough to perpetuate it.

The First Monday in Scottsboro, Alabama, which developed from trade in horses, mules, dogs, and guns on court day, is now dominantly a flea market. Between i5o and 200 vendors bring goods to sell around the courthouse once a month. Only a few vendors bring melons, apples, or other fresh produce; for only a few can afford the time to arrive two days before selling is permitted in order to hold a parking place. Many vendors attend large and small flea markets within 15o miles, some more as a hobby than as a business. One hobbyist estimated that he cleared about $so on a good day but acknowledged that he was really more interested in trading than in making money. An antique dealer from Nashville, who spent his winters collecting goods from Californian flea markets, expected to clear several hundred dollars on a good day.

LIVESTOCK AUCTION MARKETS

The pure livestock market is excluded from this study, but in many parts of the eastern United States it is undergoing change with the addition of items other than livestock to the auction. A private sales barn in Moorefield, West Virginia, which has been in operation since 1936, has expanded over the years until in 1969, 300 to 400 buyers and sellers patronized it, some from as far as 150 miles. The owner-auctioneer obliges his clientele by auctioning small amounts of produce or farm equipment-but is not enthusiastic about providing the service. His lack of spirit is shared by the owner of the sales barn in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, who began to diversify by auctioning furniture and antiques before the livestock auction opened. He found com- missions to be unprofitable, but since he was reluctant to discourage the crowds attracted by other goods, he started to rent space outside his auction barn. In 1969 only about ten sellers located there.

The weekly market in Hartville, Ohio, no longer deals in livestock but has a lively egg auction and rents space to about a hundred vendors. Some twenty-five to thirty of these sell produce, but no more than eight or ten raise their own vegetables or fruit. A cattle auction at Aurora, Ohio, was started in 1928, but by the 1950's livestock was no longer an important element in farming in this increasingly built-up area near Cleveland. After the stockyard burned down, a young speech professor from Kent State University bought the farm and continued the auction sales, now in eggs and furniture, and rented parking space to vendors. Of 225 spaces twenty- five are rented to produce sellers, of whom about half are farmers and half



FARMERS MARKETS 195

are hucksters. According to one of the hucksters interviewed, there are enough similar auctions in eastern Ohio to keep a vendor as busy as he wishes

90 88 GREEN

0 Stevens Point C )

--4,V ~~~~~~~~~~Lake-- 4- | W * E .jWinne bago

WISCONSIN

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Mad;so 8 Milwaukee-

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9o- ILLINOIS 89 -

FARMERS' MARKETS, WISCONSIN, 1946 AND 1969

1946 0 10 20 30 Miles

v ~~1 lI11 l 1969 0 10 20 30 40 50 Kilometers 8? bGR REV, APR.; 1971

FIG. 1 1

by going from one to another, and the system is growing in size and prof- itability.

The flea market, as a late stage developing from the livestock auction, reaches a peak of success in southeastern Wisconsin, where new markets are being established in the same form as, but without the local tradition of, cattle fairs. In Watertown, Wisconsin, "der Viehmarkt" is traced to Leopold Kadisch, who instituted the affair in 186o. This was originally a cattle market that met on the second Tuesday of every month and attracted buyers from Milwaukee and Chicago. The market still meets every second Tuesday, and a few animals are still brought in to be sold on the streets near the courthouse. However, the animals are now likely to be dogs, poultry, rabbits, and feeder




pigs. Produce in season is also available. Other vendors constitute a flea market.

Both civic organizations and merchants in many Wisconsin towns find that sponsoring a monthly farmers' market is successful in attracting out-of- town patrons, and several new markets have started in recent years (Fig. 11). The markets are supported by older people, who find marketing a way to keep active and interested and who enjoy the sociability. Some of the larger flea markets claim attendance of 15,000 to 20,000. The markets are spaced and timed so as not to conflict with one another. The farmers' auction-flea market seems still to be developing in Wisconsin, southern Michigan, eastern Ohio, and eastern Pennsylvania.

THE FUTURE OF FARMERS' MARKETS

A prescient person of the 1890's could have foreseen that the public market was doomed by a changing society. The railroads connected eastern population centers with distant open lands, where favorable climate and cheap labor joined forces to stock the urban larder. Refrigerated boxcars and, later, trucks brought fresh produce to the city within a day or two, and year round instead of seasonally. Preservation techniques permitted buying in quantities sufficient to eliminate the daily shopping trip. Housewives ceased to buy peas to shell when they could buy frozen ones, and children, never knowing the taste of fresh peas, would not be tempted by a place that sold them. Automobiles freed the housewife from the converging web of streetcar lines and created a demand for parking facilities impossible to meet in con- gested downtown locations. The cities expanded, overrunning the nearby truck farms, which were already supplanted by distant market gardens.

All this happened, yet the market was not drowned out in the cacophony of mass commercial produce distribution. Perhaps it is merely as Sir Halford Mackinder once wrote, "Among geographers it is a commonplace that no human settlement is more difficult to supplant than an established market."48 For a variety of reasons, often differing from place to place, the farmers' market waxes and wanes in popularity. A champion of the public market, writing before the advent of the supermarket, maintained that "the modern market place is but a revival of the old Bazaars, adapted to the needs of the modern big cities"49 and stated optimistically that "a city with a population

48 Quoted in James Bird: Billingsgate: A Cenltral Metropolitan Market, Geogr. jourln., Vol. 124,

1958, pp. 464-475; reference on p. 464. 49 Goodwin, op. cit. [see footnote 12 above], p. 21.



FARMERS MARKETS 197

as low as 5,000 can receive the benefits of a small retail public or private market." 50

Long after the supermarket was an established form, agricultural agents recommended use of a city retail farmers' market, pointing out that producers near urban centers, in spite of the increasingly high costs of production, "are frequently able to take advantage of the consumers' desire for fresh produce of high quality and to capitalize on any other real or assumed advantage of dealing directly with the producer."s' The organization of shipping-point markets also supports the thesis of the continued viability of the farmers' market.

Not least, the farmers' market, whether in the city or outside it, continues to perform social functions. In recommending the retention of the city market in 1968, the Lansing, Michigan, Planning Commission found that the market played a valuable role in the community. It "provides a touch of rural atmosphere in an urbanized environment . . ,provides one of the few contacts for our younger generation between urban and farm activities ... ., [and] is one of the few revenue producing activities owned and operated by city government."52

Over the years, the market has been stoutly defended by those who see in it old-fashioned virtues of individuality and direct connection with Mother Earth, has been attacked by those who see in it an unwarranted subsidy of inefficiency in small-scale distribution, is fondly remembered by those who think it no longer exists, and is faithfully patronized by those who prefer the quality of freshness over quantity, or even over price. Indianapolis, Watertown, Aurora, Lancaster, and Weston give evidence of success that may herald still another upswing in the fortune of the farmers' market.

soIbid., p.33. 5I Melvin W. Smith and M. E. Cravens: Retail Farmers' Markets as a Means of Direct Sales to

Consumers, Ohio Agric. Exper. Station Research Bull. 913, Wooster, Ohio, 1962, p. 3. 52 Lansing Municipal Market Study [see footnote 31 above], p. 30.



farmers' markets in the united states: functional anachronisms

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