Aggrevated at Farmers Market customers complaining about prices

[jodief100]

I don't think customers go to the Farmer's Market to be lectured. I would stay away from negative things like explaining how factory birds are raised and slaughtered. You will just make them either mad or sick. No one really cares what your cost is except you. Explaining your cost is like asking your boss for a raise because you have all these expenses. Your boss just wants to know if what you provide him is worth the additional cost...... Same thing applies here.

A farmer near us has a cardboard stand-up trifold display with the farm name and information. It has lots of pictures of his farm, chickens running around in the grass, the kids feeding them, moving the very heavy hoop house pens to new grass, no baby chicks and no pictures of slaughter. There are descriptions under the pictures. It shows customers where the chickens came from, how they live, what they eat and who they are buying from. They take preorders at $3.75/lb for fresh that must be picked up on a specific weekend. Their birds are sold before they are even out of the brooder. Some people want to know who they are buying from and this allows the customers to feel a connection to the farm.

If people complain just smile and tell them that is the price for quality birds. If they want to pay less they have other options.

 

[jodief100]

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I don't believe anyone here is saying they think everyone can and should buy pasture raised poultry at $3.50/lb. It is more trying to make a point that good, quality, humanly raised, naturally fed chickens costs more the factory raised chicken in the grocery store to produce and therefore in order to make a profit they need to charge more. Farmers are in the unfortunate position of providing a product that everyone needs and therefore are expected to give it away. Farmers have one the least paying and most dangerous jobs in the country and do not deserve to be criticized for trying to make a living.

 

[TimG]

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I think it goes the other way more often. I don't think many, if any, people expect farmers to give their food away, but I do think that some small farmers expect people to be grateful to them for growing their food and to pay a premium to have it done locally. Many organic, or all-natural, farmers seem to look down upon people (customers and producers) who don't do things their way. Many on this forum take a condescending tone when talking about people who purchase chicken in the supermarket.

It is not unreasonable for someone to choose to pay $5 for a cooked bird at WalMart instead of paying $3.50/lb for a locally produced, pastured, what-have-you, chicken. Nor is it unreasonable for some to prefer to pay the extra money for what they consider a better product based upon the things they feel are important.

Should these two groups always keep their opinions to themselves? Maybe they should both keep their opinions to themselves more often than they do. But, some discussion of the differences is a good thing. If I was selling chicken at a stand for $3.50/pound and someone walked by and said to me "I can get a cooked chicken at WalMart for $5", I'd prefer that to him just walking by without saying anything. This gives me an opportunity to discuss with him the differences. Maybe he'll look at things differently as a result, maybe not, but at least I was given an opportunity to make my case.

 

[Buster52]

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To an extent.

Anybody who says battery cage eggs are equal to free range, or chicken tastes the same at Walmart as from a local pastured poultry operation has never tasted the latter options. There is no comparison.

 

[agnes_day]

but i have...plenty of times. seriously, there really isnt that big of a difference to me. to be honest, i would prefer a juicy whole tyson chicken any day. its affordable, its prepackaged, and its tasty.

 

[Buster52]

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I think it goes the other way more often. I don't think many, if any, people expect farmers to give their food away,

Actually, I think they do. They don't want to pay a decent price. They want food to continue to be the smallest percentage of their expenditure. It shouldn't be, and someday won't be. We can't continue with the current system forever.

The price you pay for industrial food is artificial. It is not the true price. We pay much more by way of subsidies and externalized costs, to the environment, to local economies, and to our health.

I don't begrudge poor people from wanting to get by as cheaply as possible. I remember as a kid night after night of beans and cornbread, or spaghetti in milk. I know what it means to be poor. Dirt poor.

But poor people don't tend to frequent farmers markets, and that is who we are talking about here.

And as an aside, it should be kept in mind that local markets vary. What sounds unreasonable in Oklahoma might not be in California.

 

[cafe]

That's why I don't shop at my local farmer's market. I simply cannot afford it. I care about my family's health and I feel bad that many of the animal products I eat come at the cost of a miserable life for an animal, but we have seven people to feed and not a lot of money to do it with. We try to keep our living expenses down, so food/paper/cleaning products are our single largest expense -- not excluding our mortgage.

I don't begrudge the folks who raise and process the products their profits, I just know I can't buy what they sell. I appreciate that we have cheap food in the US to some degree, but I'd rather that we didn't outsource so many of our jobs so that wages would keep up with the cost of living and more people could afford to eat healthier, more humanely raised foods.

On my end, I have a vegetable garden, a couple of fruit trees, a small strawberry patch, and four laying hens/pullets. For the time being, it's the best I can do. I'm working on it bit by bit as we can afford it.

I don't notice a huge quality difference between my eggs and the fancy-schmancy eggs at the grocery store but the difference between my eggs and the cheap eggs at the store is night and day. I'm really happy that it's legal to keep chickens in my city.

 

[Buster52]

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Then that is what you should buy.

 

[Red Maple Farms]

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I've eaten pekin duck from Maple Leaf Farms in WalMart and eaten many of my own free range duck, and I can honestly say.......

I can't really tell the difference.

 

[agnes_day]

HERETIC!!!