HARDWICK – The Hardwick Farmers Market opens Fridays for fun, fresh food, and free stuff at Atkins Field on Granite Street starting May 23, from 3 to 6 p.m.
While no one has to buy anything, it’s a great idea to do so because the wares on site are grown and produced by neighbors and friends. Buying directly allows customers to ask farmers how they grew that radish or microgreens, how they made that red raspberry jam, maple syrup or fancy pastry, and what’s the best place to plant the baby tomato plant they started from seeds.
Dinner is available at one of the local food trucks or stands. Swap stories about the long cold winter with other neighbors and friends of all ages. Wander around the community orchard at Atkins Field and see which trees are in bloom.
The Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) occasionally offers free $10 coupons to shop at the market for the first 100 customers as an incentive to support local farmers and food producers. The market accepts Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and multiplies them with matching coupons.
There are many studies to show good reasons to buy groceries at the local farmers market.
In 2016, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont conducted a study on the price difference between produce purchased at stores versus purchased directly from local farmers. The study found that 55% of organic products and 24% of conventional products were priced competitively with grocery stores. According to a report from the national Farmers Market Coalition, farmers market prices vary by product, but a number of studies found that similar produce is typically less expensive at farmers markets than at nearby grocery stores.
A recentEconomicResearchServicereport showed that less healthy foods tend to have a low price per calorie, increasing the difficulty of adding fresh fruits and vegetables into American diets.
However, one price study showed that most vegetables sold at the farmers market had lower if not comparable prices to their grocery store. One cost advantage that farmers markets can sometimes offer is the ability to buy fresh food in bulk at the height of the season and preserve or freeze it for later use, when the product would otherwise be more expensive, hard to find, or of lower quality.
Buying directly not only gives the chance to know farmers, it’s better for the farmer and for the local economy, where those dollars will circulate.
In 2017, according to the Farmers Market Coalition, American farmers received only 17.4 centsofeverydollar Americans spent on food. At farmers markets, farmers head home with upwards of 90 cents on the dollar.
The Hardwick Farmers Market has free live music every week, a youth booth with children’s activities, such as games and face painting. On opening day, May 23, shortly after the market ends, the Civic Standard is putting on a free concert by the popular rocking harmonic bluegrass band, Beg Steal or Borrow.
To sign up for the monthly newsletter of the Hardwick Farmers Market, please sign up on the new website hardwickfarmersmarket.org/
Bethany Dunbar is the Hardwick Farmers Market secretary and Community Programs Manager for the Center for an Agricultural Economy.
