Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

Saturday, March 01, 2008
My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables)
By JACK HEDIN
New York Times
Rushford, Minn.

http://voxverax.blogspot.com/2008/03...egetables.html

IF you�ve stood in line at a farmers� market recently, you know that the local food movement is thriving, to the point that small farmers are having a tough time keeping up with the demand.

But consumers who would like to be able to buy local fruits and vegetables not just at farmers� markets, but also in the produce aisle of their supermarket, will be dismayed to learn that the federal government works deliberately and forcefully to prevent the local food movement from expanding. And the barriers that the United States Department of Agriculture has put in place will be extended when the farm bill that House and Senate negotiators are working on now goes into effect.

As a small organic vegetable producer in southern Minnesota, I know this because my efforts to expand production to meet regional demand have been severely hampered by the Agriculture Department�s commodity farm program. As I�ve looked into the politics behind those restrictions, I�ve come to understand that this is precisely the outcome that the program�s backers in California and Florida have in mind: they want to snuff out the local competition before it even gets started..............

http://voxverax.blogspot.com/2008/03...egetables.html

Re: Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

Control of every bite of food and every drop of water is the psychopathic business plan of the multinational corporate feudalism AKA New World Order. It will fail, but not for lack of using governments to try to create that insane system.

Re: Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

thats unfortunate. I wanted to try to get my family on to a small farm soon and start selling at local farmers markets and set up a bakery based of the local farming industry. :(

This makes it sound like WSHTF people like you, and I(if i do it) will be insta-targets to shut down.

Re: Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

If TSHTF everyone will be trying to grow everything. This pipe dream of controlling food will fail.

Re: Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

:rolleyes_m: I think this is more of a location specific problem than a coast to coast conspiracy.

Two farmer's markets within 25 miles of my location and both are practically deserted anytime you go.

Farmers won't deal on huge lots or barter with buyers on produce for sale.
Grocery store prices are roughly 40% cheaper than everything at the market.
I quit wasting my time and so did hundreds of others.

If there was a demand they killed it out of the gate with outrageous prices...even flea market produce is 25% cheaper than these guys and their attitude and prices are far from competitive.
Price fixing is alive and well...every vegetable is exactly the same price at every stall...zero competition among vendors.

No thanks...they serve no useful purpose as long as every farmer is a member of their private price fixing cartel.

:bear_angry::bear_angry::bear_angry:

Re: Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

I hope you are right

Re: Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

I was just at a local farmers market last thursday and yes it was BUSY.
CROWDED. The local Mall can only envy that kind of traffic.
Huge quantities of produce and tremendous variety. Where's it all coming from?

Well, it's coming from Tampa. From shipping containers. Foreign produce.
A few things are grown locally, like strawberries and citrus, but most of the produce comes from the same places the grocery chains get theirs.

I recently went to a local organic food coop and asked them where they get their organic produce and they told me it's global, but they'd sure like to know of any local producers.

By the way, it's all quite pricey these days, with a possible exception of cabbage and rutabaga's.

Yep, pretty much... very few real small time local producers, period.

Re: Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

where in florida are you, I want to check that market out if its close by. im in palm beach.

Re: Fed's Try to Crush Local Food/Farmer's Market Movement
 

That's the same shit that I've found in my area-- it's too bad because I'd rather buy it from a farmer's market, but come on...