Hardwick Farmers Market is fun, fresh and free to attend!
Photo by Bethany M. Dunbar courtesy of the Center for an Agricultural Economy
by Bethany M. Dunbar
HFM secretary and Community Programs Manager for the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE)
Join us at the Hardwick Farmers Market at Atkins Field on Granite Street Fridays starting on May 23 from 3 to 6 p.m. for fun, fresh food, and free stuff.
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 your neighbors and friends. Buying direct allows you to ask the farmer how they grew that gorgeous radish or microgreens, how they made that sparkling red raspberry jam, maple syrup, or incredibly fancy pastry, and what’s the best place to plant the baby tomato plant they started from seeds. You can get dinner at one of the local food trucks or stands and swap stories about your long cold winter with other neighbors and friends of all ages. You can wander around the community orchard at Atkins Field and see which trees are in bloom.
The CAE offers free $10 coupons to shop at the market for the first 100 customers occasionally as an incentive to support our local farmers and food producers. Also, the market can take Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and multiply them with matching coupons. So come to see how far your dollars can go.
There are many studies to show good reasons to buy your 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 recent Economic Research Service report 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 for later use when the product would otherwise be more expensive, hard to find, or of lower quality.
Buying directly not only gives you a chance to know your 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 cents of every dollar 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 kids 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.
As they used to say on television in days past, “Be there or be square!”
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