04/21/08 Booming Markets

Booming Markets. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Ah, it's one of my favorite times of the year when you can get out on a Saturday morning and check out the local farmers market full of fresh from the farm goodness. There are dozens of markets around the northwest. Oregon's farmers' market season is underway with as many as 88 individual markets open for business throughout the state. From now until the fall, you will be able to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other food items at their local farmers' market. BARTON: It's kind of an exciting concept that more consumers are interested in connecting to farmers and where their food comes from and being able to select things that have been picked that morning, fresh from the field. Marketing specialist Laura Barton of the Oregon Department of Agriculture says farmers' markets help local growers in a couple of ways. BARTON: Some avenues of selling products have really gone away. People who are growing product and taking it to the market, it's an outlet for them. So that's one advantage. Another one is it's quick return. They get cash from the customers that day. The third advantage is the direct connection made between consumer and grower, helping to bridge the urban-rural divide. Annually, more than a thousand growers participate in farmers' markets with some 90-thousand customers visiting each week. Barton says early in the season, the offerings at farmers' markets are somewhat limited. But now that we are well into spring, there will be much more to choose from: BARTON: As the season progresses, you start seeing a lot of fruits and vegetables come on including first you'll see the berries, which everyone greatly looks forward to. Barton says the popularity of farmers' markets are a reflection of the concern people have over food security. BARTON: I think having that face-to-face dialogue with knowing the person there is a sense of confidence that people have knowing that the person they are talking to is actually raising the product they are consuming. It may be a bit early for some farmer's markets but a new one opens just about every weekend from now to June. Not sure where a local market is at then visit the USDA's farmer's market site at www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets. You can find a market in your area easily by typing your zip code. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.