"Ed Pawlowski" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Shawn Hirn" > wrote in message
>>
>> Is your "local farmer's market" really selling locally grown produce? I
>> seriously doubt it.
>
> Ours does. Most is fresh picked hours before they open. They are in or
> town twice a week and other towns another couple of days a week. Unless
> you produce the goods, you are not allowed to sell at the market. Some
> sell preserves, bread, and other home made items, all local. The CT Dept.
> of Agriculture sets up guidelines as to what constitutes local markets.

Ed, once produce is harvested and moved to another location it is no longer
local as far as farming is concerned... no local agriculture department can
certify where one head of lettuce was grown from another anymore than you
can tell if a banana was grown in Honduras of Costa Rica. Those little
labels don't grow on the bananas, they're affixed here in the US, even
Chiquita doesn't really know country of origin once they leave the numerous
plantations with whom they contract. I've seen the stupidmarket produce
employees affixing banana labels from a roll with a dispensor. A farmer's
market is not a farm stand. I can guarantee that very very little if any of
that produce was grown by the seller any more than stupidmarket produce is
produced by the seller. Sounds more like the CT Dept. of Agriculture is no
different an organization than the Maffia. Once produce is processed and
packaged, like apple sauce, there's a good chance of knowing because USDA
inspection is constant, but there is no way to know the origin of a fresh
apple unless you pick it off the tree yourself... even many orchards do the
co-op thing... even the beekeepers co-op, unless you go to their hive
operation you are probably buying a blend from various local beekeepers...
there are always exceptions, a few beekeepers won't co-op, but most do.
Farmer's market venders buy their wares from produce wholesalers... if you
want fresh picked from the farm you need to go to a farm stand... and even
then it is doubtful everything was harvested that day, they don't throw away
what doesn't sell that day. Where I worked there were 5,000 employeess,
once a week a farmer's market was permitted to set up in one of our many
huge parking lots so they could sell during the lunch hours... each
department took lunch at different times, even the same department had
staggered times so they didn't need to shut down (mot of out operation never
shut down), so the farmer's market was operational on site from about 10 AM
until 2 PM... this kind of farmer's market moved from location to location
on a steady basis, to sell at various large employer's facilities and even
in town municipal parking lots/park ball fields, etc. When a seller comes
to your location or is set up away from their farm it is not a farm stand
and there is no way to know where a farmer's market vender gets their wares.
Supposedly all the produce sold at the Farmer's market where I worked was
grown by legitimate farmers on Long Island, but who knows, coulda shipped in
tomatoes from Noo Joisey.