Of course I knew about the Union Sq. Market but I wondered if there were others perhaps closer and so I called Greenmarket to find out. Much to my surprise I found that they managed 45 markets around the city and that there were 25 in Manhattan, three in the Bronx, five in Queens, 10 in Brooklyn and one on Staten Island.
The Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC) is a hands-on non-profit that has been improving New York City's environment for over thirty years. CENYCs dedicated staff green our neighborhoods, create the environmental leaders of the future, promote waste prevention and recycling, and run the largest farmers market program in the country. These markets are a tremendous resource both to the citizens of New York as well as to the 200 or more so farmers ‘that come to the markets from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Each market has a market stand and manager(s) where they distribute literature, answer questions, cook up some vegetables for customers to taste. With the exception of Union Sq and Grand Army Plaza, the markets range in size from two to fifteen stands and there are between one and three immigrant farmers at some of the markets but not always at the same time. The busiest market is Union Sq. simply because of its location, its fame, and the number of restaurant chefs that shop there. The Grand Army Plaza market in Brooklyn is also as busy as Union Sq. if not as universally well known. You can start up a market independently of Greenmarket but if you do you miss out on their organization which is quit phenomenal. A couple of notable markets outside the system is Essex St. Market and Real Food Market.
In each of the markets I went to the friendliness of the vendors, market managers, shoppers and the store personnel were very friendly. The farmers’ at the markets ranged from ten-generation farms (quite a feat now a days) to new immigrant farmers who had been leasing their land for as little as two years. A big surprise to me, however was that only about 15-20% of the vendors were organic.
Management
Tying Greenmarket to the CENYC made them eligible to receive foundation funds. The Greenmarket Board members are comprised of Greenmarket staff/market managers, farmers, and concerned shoppers. They set the overall rules and regulations some of which are:
· The producer/farmer must be in attendance 25% of the time,
· Must grow all their produce themselves,
· It must be grown locally, and
· Staff at the stall must speak enough English to communicate with the customers.
Once a farmer has a spot with Greenmarket they keep it. An example is Hodgson Farms and Stokes Farms who have been with Greenmarkets since their inception 31 years ago. The only time a spot is vacated is when the farmer dies and there is no successor or when rules are broken and they are asked to leave. Even in the case of a divorce the couple split up the spot. Greenmarket will offer half of a 12ft frontage space for $30. While this makes it difficult for new farmers to get a spot, it is not impossible, as we will see shortly. For a farmer to obtain a spot at the Greenmarkets they must complete an application, meet the criteria mentioned above, pass an inspection, and await a space; it is as simple as that!
When Greenmarket first started operating they had problems with farmers’ buying their produce at the wholesalers in the City and reselling it at the market. Today Greenmarket has a paid farm inspector who visits the farms on a regular basis and checks that what the farmer is selling is what he is growing producing. The Greenmarket managers check the quantity and type of produce being sold at the beginning and at the end of the day. This is particular important with eggs where we hear the terms: cage free, free range, pasture and a myriad of other words to deceive the customer.
Greenmarket selects market spots based on heavy foot traffic, room for trucks to park, and community support and over half the markets are open year round. They promote the markets through advertising in local neighborhood newspapers. They also educate the consumers through tours of the market September through November, through the literature they distribute at the markets, and through their website.
They purchase a blanket insurance policy for themselves but each farmer must purchase their own policy through the New York Farmers Market Federation.
At the end of the day all unsold produce is bagged up and put on City Harvest vans by their volunteers under the supervision of the market manager(s). Last year Union Sq. Market sent 275,000 pounds of food to City Harvest. This is a significant contribution as food in the food banks in NYC has dropped by 40% due in one reason to the Farm Bill stalled in the Senate.
Greenmarket is pretty much self-funded with an operating budget upwards of $1.5 million. Farmers’ fees come close to meeting the entire amount and Union Sq. market’s income is in excess of $700,000. This money is used to manage the entire market operation; which includes dealing with nine different city agencies for the many permits that are required, marketing activities, insurance, and new initiatives such as the New Farmer Development Project (NFDP), and staff salaries. For example Union Sq. market has eight market managers.
The NFDP project was created in 2000 as a partnership between Greenmarket and the Cornell Cooperative Extension's NYC Program. The project is based in New York City and supports new farmers within the city, New York's Hudson Valley & Catskill Regions, New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania. The NFDP identifies, educates, and supports immigrants with agricultural experience by helping them become local farmers and establish small farms in the region. Their focus at the moment is on farmers’ from Latin American.
In 2002, Nestor Tello from Mexico and Hector Tejada from the Dominican Republic were the first two farmers to come through the program and start selling at the Greenmarkets. By 2007, the project had assisted 17 immigrant farmers’. Because of the cost of insurance the farmers are covered under the NFDP.
The market is continually evolving as funds become available. Recently they received a special grant from the city to enable them to handle the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program. They have also just received funding from the Manhattan Borough President’s Office for the purchase of a bio-diesel step-van for operations. This new van will afford Market Managers more space to store hardware such as tents and tables, cooking demonstration equipment as well as an array of supporting literature, books, merchandise and Program information.
Greenmarket has also applied for a grant from Farm Aid to bolster the education component of the Union Square Greenmarket. Currently, Union Square plays host to over 100 public and private schools each year who receive Market Tours and learn about the value of a local food system. They have also applied for a grant to initiate audio/visual programming at markets to highlight and illuminate some of the issues, challenges and successes particular to the program. If successful, Greenmarket will write, shoot and produce four, twenty-eight minute programs that will air on Manhattan Neighborhood Network Television and the Council on the Environment’s website.
Farmers and local markets
Each farmer pays between $57-60 for a 12ft frontage space although it is possible to rent half a spot. The Union Sq. market on Saturday’s costs a little more at $70 a spot. A vendor can have multiple spots based on availability and seniority. For example if a farmer started in the 80s, with 3 spots he can keep these for as long as he wants them.
The local market manager is in charge of logistics such as parking, vendor/ customer issues and questions. Occasionally an issue might come up where one farmer wants to sell another farmer’s egg and there is already an egg vendor at the market. In this case the market manager has the prerogative to say no. This only applies to the smaller markets. Union Sq. market has multiple vendors selling the same type of produce. Union Sq. Market being in the center of the city has a few unique problems such as homeliness, drugs, alcohol etc. that do impact the market. The market manger plays a significant role as he/she is the link to the farmer, the customer, and the community. It is through them that many ideas originate and who form relationships that can ultimate lead to funding for new initiatives. In the Union Sq. market the manager has been their five years while at the two I visited in Brooklyn the manager has been there one year.
The biggest headache for the farmers’ is getting into the city and parking. They get up very early, around 4:00 pm to pick their vegetables or fruit, get them loaded onto the truck(s), and ride into the city. Sometimes they can get into an accident and lose their entire load. Most farmers have set up their stalls by 5:45 am and in some areas people are coming by to shop at 6:00 a.m. The police have helped the situation by putting up Do Not Park signs right by the place that the farmers’ would be setting up their stalls. But again in the Union Sq. area cars will have parked there over night and have to be towed away by the market manager.
While Union Sq. Market is a huge and successful market there are farmers’ who prefer not to go there. The reasons can be many such as the competitiveness, they prefer the clientele at the smaller markets, there is much less hassle at the smaller markets, and there is not as much politics/friction as at Union Sq. Market.
The farms vary in acreage from one to 650 acres with 250 acres leased rather than owned. Some of the farmers’ rely entirely on the markets for their income, some have CSAs’ and some are thinking of starting one. For the immigrant farmers however, only 25% are full-time farmers while the rest have winter jobs. The non-immigrant farmers make about 70-100% of their income from the farmers’ market and the rest through selling directly to restaurants and CSAs. Almost all the farmers’ attend more than one market around the city and they told me that what customers buy varies based on the location of the market. For example one immigrant farmer told me that at Colombia University his customers buy mostly greens from him.
When I asked the farmers who ran the markets and made the rules, they said they did not know and then half of them proceeded to tell me who did. In the end it was only the new farmers to Greenmarket that did not seem to know. The majority of the farmers are at one the many markets run by Greenmarket 2-4 times a week. This is about the limit they can do based on logistics and it makes for some very long days indeed.
FARMER PROFILES
Cato Corner Farm, Colchester, CT
They are popular for the raw milk hormone free cheeses. They did not get licensed to produce cheese until 1997 and have been selling at the market since 1999. They told me that the market provides them with 70% of their income. They have just starting selling from the farm on Saturday’s and are looking into build a new space to sell their cheese and other local produce too. Apart from the market sales they also sell directly to restaurants and some specialty shops and wholesale through Artisan Made – Northeast LLC. They have no distributor.
Evolutionary Organic Farms
Kira has been growing and selling in Greenmarket for 12 years. She got a spot at the market the very first year she applied. She derives 90% of her income from the Greenmarkets and the other 10% from a small CSA at her farm. She told me that she “hasn’t seen a change in what customers want but rather a change in what they are willing to try”. Kira grows vegetables that she likes such as raddichio, asian greens, and different varieties of summer and winter squashes. For many years she said “I brought these vegetables to the market only to put them back on the van to take home again. Now I find that customers are trying them and finding that they like them even though they don’t look like they expect”.
Kira does not set a premium price for her organically grown produce. Her prices based on the work they put into a crop and by what she would be willing to pay for an item if she was a market shopper. She says that n the markets where she goes there are a lot of conventional growers and organic growers getting the same prices, and she has even seen conventional growers with higher prices, especially in heirloom tomatoes. She has never had a problem getting the price she asks for her produce.
Lynnhaven Goat Farm, Pine Bush, New York
She has been with the Saturday market for two years and the Wednesday market for seven months. Lynn told me “that she did not think that she would get a spot before she died” but luck was on her side when Coach Farms Gold Creamery sold their creamery to a big company. This made them ineligible to stay in the market and she was given their spot. She told me that Coach Farms had over 600 goats and they took in milk from two other farmers; while her operation is tiny in comparison; 70 goats. She told me that “the market had made a huge difference in her life and that the income she makes at the market supports herself, her son, and her 70 goats”. Since she has been at the market she has contracted with local chefs who come to the market and pick up the cheese. She is 100% dependent upon the market income.
Pafftenroth Gardens, Warwick, New York
They have been at the market for 18 years. They grow their produce traditionally and are perhaps the most highly rated produce farmer at the market. They have been listed in Zagats for the past five years whose participants rated the vegetables as “superior root vegetables” and “fabulous.” He has been praised by the likes of Alice Waters, and pursued by local celebrity chefs. Alex told me that his produce is the least expensive in the market and of the highest quality. He grows difference produce, and new things that the customer has not seen before. He has signs up on most of his vegetables telling customers’ what it is and what to do with it. When he comes to the markets on Wednesday and Saturday he starts his day at 3:15 a.m. when he raises and gets home at 8:30 pm. He gets 100% of his income from the market. He is a very friendly farmer indeed.
Stokes Farms. Old Tappan, New Jersey
They have been with the market for 31 years. They have a farm stand too and 17 greenhouses where they grow flowers and herbs. They told me that the flowers and herbs out of six of the greenhouses come to the Union Sq. market. They are known for the excellent fresh produce and their big beautiful herb plants. They also have a nice mix of heirloom tomatoes. The major changes that they have seen in their 31 years at the market are that customers are much more aware of local produce and what it means then when they first started. They said that quality seemed to be the first issue with customers and then price.
Tellos Green Farm, Red Hook, New York
They have been at the market six years. Nestor Tello and his wife Alejandra raise 4,000 chickens on four acres of pasture. Being the skeptical person I am I asked Nestor if they really went out side. He told me “Yes, they do. At noon I go and let them out of their barn and at dusk they all come back again. If you don’t believe me you can ask the farm manager because we are inspected.” I asked him what he fed them and he said “the eat what they can outside and then I also give them corn.”
He started at the Union Sq. Market where he met chefs who were coming to the markets to buy produce for their restaurants. Then, as chefs or other restaurant staff members moved to new restaurants or started their own restaurants, he maintained the connection and was able to develop new buyers through his old relationships. As the chefs changed restaurants they made arrangements for him to deliver to their restaurants. These restaurants pay $3.00 a dozen for his eggs which is a premium price for buying in bulk. At the market he sells his large eggs for $3.25. Nestor also has a CSA in the Brooklyn market and either he or his wife is at one of ten markets during the week. Nestor’s plans are for a totally biodynamic farm. For those who really want to know the majority of his hens are Rhode Island Reds but he also has Araucana.
It was just by chance that during the week I stopped into an organic restaurant in SOHO for lunch and the waitress told me that their egg dishes were very popular and that a farmer delivered eggs to them weekly along with honey. It turned out that this farmer was Nestor.
The most repeated question I heard from customers while I was talking to market managers in the smaller markets was “how do the prices compare.” Compare to what I thought! The market managers merely said that there were a variety of prices and they should shop around but they would not be the same as from somewhere that could buy in bulk. I thought this was a lost golden opportunity to educate the customer on food economics. However, I did find out later at the Union Sq. market that prices for produce vary wildly so the response was perhaps appropriate. According to the market managers price was the most often asked question and it came from people at all socioeconomic levels. They said that most of their customers were either middle class or those using WIC food coupons. They felt the WIC program was a wonderful situation for both the customer and the farmer. The farmers; I talked to all said that they had seen a surge in requests for organic produce and I noticed that when customers were told that there were farmers who had organic produce the question of price seemed to disappear in their eyes and body language.
Conclusion
Since Greenmarkets inception in 1976 they have managed to save many small farmers from going under. These farmers’ had tried many different methods to move their produce where they lived without success. Once they came to a NYC market they found that their produce flew off the stalls.
Shortly after this article was ready for the publisher I was directed to read the 2008 Zagats Shopping and Entertainment Guide for NYC. Many of the farmers I profiled above were listed with a rating of 27-29 out of 30 which translates as excellent in all fields. They were Cato Farms, Paffenroth, Ronnybrook, Stokes Farm, Gorzenski Ornery Farm, and Migliorelli Farms.
My comments about customers appearing willing to pay for organic food was borne out by the introduction which said that out of the 6,807 customers who participated in their survey over half said they were willing to pay more for organic, locally produced or from sustainable sources. There is definitely at opportunity for more farmers to move toward organic at the Union Sq. market where so much produce is sold. For the smaller markets however, it may be too expensive for the farmer. There is also the fickleness of shoppers who already are leaning towards local or organic/local. If the localvore wins than it will not be worth the bureaucratic cost to get certified as organic as customers will know how their farmers grow their produce.
to be published in Farmers Market Today
http://www.scissortailproductionsllc.com
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