Local Foods Memo - Farmers' Markets: Farmers' Market Season is Fast-Approaching

Customers line the vendor stalls at the popular farmers' market in the small city of Sonora in Northern California's Gold Country foothills region. It's a social market as well as a farmers' market. [Photo courtesy of ianandwendy.com.]

Farmers market season is fast approaching in the U.S., as well as elsewhere in North America and the world.

The end of March and first of April marks the opening (although some have already opened) of thousands of farmers markets throughout the U.S., where local farmers and other food purveyors sell their fresh produce and artisan foods directly to consumers.

The farmers' market season is part of spring, that time of renewal in all things lifestyle.

The farmers' market movement in the U.S. has been growing super-fast over the last decade, and even picking up more steam in just the last few years, as new open-air markets open in cities, suburbs and small towns throughout America. There are thousands of farmers markets operating in the U.S. today.

What makes farmers' markets a unique format for fresh produce and artisan-specialty-natural foods retailing are essentially five key elements:

>In most cases the vendors grow all of the produce they sell at the markets. In states like California and a number of others, "state certified" farmers' markets exist in which all of the sellers must also be the growers. Non-growers-sellers can sell at non-certified farmers' markets but consumers like the certified markets because it ensures they are buying directly from the farmer.

>Most of the fresh produce sold at farmers' markets in the U.S. is "locally grown," coming from a distance of generally no more than about 100 miles from the market location.

>Organic fruits and vegetables abound. Since many of the growers-sellers at farmers markets are on the cutting edge of farming, the fresh produce they offer is in many cases organically-grown. Much of it also is biodynamic. For many farmers who sell at the markets doing so is more about saving money by not buying chemical fertilizer, pesticides and fungicides than it is a marketing tool. It's also about being conservationists of their land.

>Price is generally good. The prices on both conventional and organic fresh produce at local farmers markets are generally as good or better than supermarket prices. Even in the cases when the prices are a bit higher, the value often is better because the produce tends to be fresher and of higher quality. There's also the added benefit of supporting local farmers.

>Farmers' markets are a social event. Farmers' markets allow consumers to get closer to the food they eat. As mentioned, most of the sellers at farmers' markets also are the growers. This allows for interaction between the farmers-vendors and consumers. Farmers' markets also provide a forum, centered around food, in which residents of a community can interact, visit and network. It's community at its best.

Since farmers' market season is fast-approaching, Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) decided to search the web and choose a selection of stories and articles about farmers' markets in the U.S. (and one in the UK at the bottom of the list) for our readers. (We will have more about Canadian and UK farmers' markets in upcoming posts.)

Below are links to the articles we've selected. All of the stories are from March 17, 2009:

~Tampabay.com: Tampa farmers markets a boon for frugal food shoppers
~Seal Beach Daily: The beauty of buying local: fresh and fun at the new Seal Beach farmers market
~Valley Courier: Local flavor
~Vernon Morning star: Eating close to home
~California Farm Bureau magazine: Considering organics? Farmers offer advice on how to get started. And: Growth in organic food sales continues, at slower pace
~Boston Globe: Economy of scales
~Christian Science Monitor: Refugee job hopes wax and wane at farmers market
~Minneapolis City Pages: Great news from Chef Shack!
~Hobby Farms.com: Top 10 Ways to Support Agriculture
~WXII12.com: New Farmers Market To Open In Downtown Winston-Salem
~MPNNow.com: Farmers, families like veggie coupons
~Rural Northwest.com: Growing the Farmers' Market
~The Post-Standard: Farmers markets seminars coming up
~Richmond TimesFarmers market in western Henrico opens April 25
~United Kingdom: Liz Hurley to take up stall at Stroud Farmers' Market

Enjoy.

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) will be visiting a variety of farmers markets in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom in the upcoming spring and summer months, bringing first-person reports about local foods' selling and buying, along with photographs, to the Blog. Stay tuned.

Local Foods Retailing Memo: Sacramento, California-Based Raley's Supermarket Chain 'Doubling-Down' On its Local Foods Merchandising and Marketing

Sacramento, California-based family-owned regional supermarket retailing powerhouse Raley's is expanding it's already aggressive local foods merchandising and marketing programs in a number of ways, clearly visible in its stores and in it's multi-media advertising.

Among the increased local foods merchandising and marketing efforts the 129 store regional supermarket chain is making include:

>Labeling all foods grown or produced within a few hundred miles from its Sacramento, California base with eye-catching "locally-grown" and "locally-produced" shelf signs. This includes fresh produce, meats, perishables and dry grocery items, including natural, organic and specialty foods offerings.

>Labeling foods grown and produced in California, but farther than a few hundred miles away from its Sacramento base, with "Grown in California" shelf signage.

>Increasing the number of exclusive deals it signs with local farmers, buying the local growers' entire fresh produce crops, and touting the locally-grown fresh fruits and vegetables by building massive displays in store produce departments, running large front page ads for the local items in the retailer's weekly newspaper advertising circular, and often running full-page color ads in the major daily newspapers in the grocer's market regions featuring such local produce such as corn on the cob, strawberries, melons and other fruits and vegetables grown by local farmers.

Raley's contracts for the entire crop of a given grower (which can be expensive), which are grown by top-quality farmers, because locally-grown produce is now so popular in California that it gives the retailer a major competitive advantage to do so. It touts not only the local aspect of the fresh produce items, but the exclusivity to Raley's as well.

>Working closer with local natural, organic and specialty foods' producers and vendors by authorizing their local food and grocery products in the stores, promoting the local items more extensively, and partnering with the local producers at special events like community food fairs and charitable events designed to increase awareness and sales of locally-grown and produced food products.

>Creating more "local foods" in-store displays and cross merchandising the local items both by meal complementary merchandising techniques and by local region.

Offering locally-grown fresh produce at reasonable prices rather than doing what some food retailers do and selling them for a premium.

Conducting more frequent in-store local foods sampling events, often having numerous local foods producers, including farmers, do the tastings in the stores at the same time.

Raley's, which is the food and grocery sales market share leader in the Sacramento region market, and has stores under the Raley's, Bel-Air Markets, Nob Hill Foods and Food Source banners elsewhere in Central and San Joaquin Valley, north of Sacramento, in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Nevada, has long positioned itself--and is--as the local grocer, even though the chain has grown to 129 stores and nearly $4 billion in annual sales.

Along with its extensive--and increased--local foods merchandising and marketing commitment, the supermarket chain has a charitable foundation that gives millions of dollars to charities in Sacramento and the other Northern California regions where it operates stores.

In addition to the foundation, the corporation itself donates millions of dollars in cash and in-kind food donations to non-profit groups, charitable organizations and food banks and pantries throughout Northern California and Nevada.

The grocer also has a program in which customers can select a card in either $5, $10, or $20 amounts at each checkout lane as a way to make a donation to local food banks. Shoppers select the card while waiting to get checked out, give it to the store clerk as she rings up their purchases, the clerk scans the card, and the amount goes into a special account, 100% of which is donated to programs to feed the hungry. Raley's matches a portion of the total funds donated by customers each year.

Raley's also funded Sacramento's fairly new state-of-the-art baseball stadium for the city's super-popular Sacramento Rivercats minor league baseball team. The baseball stadium, called Raley Field, is packed every night during the season with families who as far as they are concerned believe the local minor league team is every bit as enjoyable to watch as a major league baseball team is.

Raley's runs all sorts of promotions in conjunction with the team and stadium. The grocer also gives out hundreds of tickets during the season to lower income families and children. To say the River Cats are a hot ticket is the understatement of baseball season. They draw more fans on many nights than a lot of major league baseball teams in parts of the U.S. do.

Raley's was a first-mover in California and national food retailing in terms of getting into local foods merchandising and marketing in a serious and major way. The added efforts and programs started by the grocer a few months ago and increasing even more recently are positioning the chain as one of the foremost local foods food retailers in the U.S.

It's paying dividends for the supermarket chain as well; that's why Raley's continues to add more elements and aspects to its local foods program.

Others like Safeway Stores, Inc. Whole Foods Market, and numerous regional chains, multi-store independents, single-store independent grocers and natural foods retailers also are into local foods merchandising in a big way in California.

In fact, those few food retailers who aren't "going local" are really at a big disadvantage, as most grocers and California market observers will tell you the local foods movement is growing much faster than the organic foods movement is in the Golden State.

In part that's because the organic foods movement is more mature, and still is growing considerably. But that's really only a small part of the equation. the major reasons the "buy local" is growing faster than the organic consumer movement right now in California is because it hits on so many hot buttons important to the state's consumers. These include freshness of product, price, environmental concerns, food safety concerns, desire to support local agriculture, and many more.

Raley's own research identified this growing movement some time ago, and that along with the best indicator, sales of locally-grown and produced food products in the grocers stores, is encouraging the family-owned supermarket chain to grow its local foods merchandising and marketing programs even more.

Local Foods Retailing Memo: Tesco is Making Stronger Commitment to Local Foods Sourcing, Marketing and Merchandising in the United Kingdom

Tesco, the world's number three retailer and the number one food and grocery sales market share leader in its home country of the United Kingdom with about 32% of the nation's total retail food sales, is launching what appears to be the biggest local foods sourcing and merchandising program in the UK.

Last year, Tesco opened five new local foods' regional buying and marketing offices in the UK cities of York, Leicester, Plymouth, Peterborough and Horsham, making it the first supermarket chain in the UK to develop such an extensive regionally-based structure designed to procure and market locally-based food and grocery products.

Each of the five local offices has a buyer and marketing person who's jobs are to find and procure high-quality, locally-produced products to sell in Tesco's UK stores.

As part of its local foods procurement and marketing program, Tesco also has started holding "Meet the Farmer" local foods events in its UK supermarkets.

Since Tesco launched the program, called "Local Sourcing", last year, the retailer says it's five regional UK offices have thus far launched over 1,00 new, local food and grocery product lines in its stores, bringing the total number of locally-produced products the retailers sells currently to about 3,000. Tesco also says it's added 90 new local suppliers to its vendor list.

Tesco UK also has an executive in charge of the local sourcing program, Emily Shamma. Ms. Shamma says UK consumers want to buy quality local food and to support local producers by doing so.

Tesco customers also want to buy more local foods to cut down on food miles and the resulting carbon emissions, Shamma recently told Natural~Specialty Foods Memo.

Further, UK consumers see locally-produced foods as having overall superior quality to food products imported from elsewhere, as well as liking the idea they can know more about how the local products are produced (because the goods are local) compared to imported food and grocery products.

Tesco plans to further grow its local foods' sourcing and marketing program, according to Ms. Shamma. She says the retailer's goal is to sell more locally-produced food and grocery product lines than any other UK food retailer.

To further this aim, Tesco also has set up a fund designed to help small, local farmers expand their businesses. This is similar to what U.S.-based natural foods' retailer Whole Foods Market, Inc. is doing for small farmers in the United States as a way to promote small-scale agriculture and local food production. Tesco has put ~1 million-p ($1.95 billion U.S.) in the fund to use to help give local farmers and producers a leg up in expanding their operations.

The British retailer also has created a local technical team in each of the five regional offices. The team offers and provides free help to the local producers in the areas of manufacturing, packaging, quality assurance and marketing. part of the reason for creating these dedicated technical teams is so Tesco can make sure the local producers have the means available to meet the retailer's overall product quality control standards for the goods it sells in its UK stores.

Samma also says Tesco doesn't just want to make local foods available in its stores to wealthy consumers. Rather, the goal is to make local fresh produce for example more affordable so that it's available for UK consumers of all income levels, she says.

Tesco's current goal is to sell ~400 million-p ($780 million U.S.) worth of locally-produced food and grocery products in its stores this year, with a longer-term goal of selling ~1 billion-p ($1.95 billion U.S.) worth of the locally-produced bounty by 2011.

Tesco PLC had gross sales internationally of about $84 billion U.S. in 2007.

The locally-produced products Tesco has introduced in its stores just since last year when it opened the five new regional buying offices range from fresh produce like Yorkshire cucumbers and locally-raised fresh meat, pork and poultry products, to locally-produced ice cream and beer. The local foods initiative is across all store product categories, from fresh and frozen, to refrigerated and shelf-stable.

Tesco's main competitors in the UK--Wal-Mart-owned Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose, the Co-op and a couple others--also are to various degrees involved in local foods sourcing and marketing programs. Besides Tesco, probably Waitrose and Sainsbury's, followed by the Co-op, are the second, third and fourth most aggressive in local foods procurement and selling in their respective stores in the UK.

None of these competitors however has created as aggressive and as comprehensive local foods program as Tesco has with its five fully-staffed regional offices. And perhaps they don't need to. There are many ways to procure and sell locally-produced foods in their stores.

However, based on the fact Tesco has added 1,000 new locally-produced products in its stores, and 90 new local vendors to its roster in less than a year, it seems the regional buying office concept complete with the in-house technical teams is working well for the retailer--and for the local farmers and food producers who thus far have been able to get their goods into Tesco's UK supermarkets, which exist in nearly every city and town in the nation.

Sainsbury's and Waitrose both are increasing their local foods procurement and merchandising efforts in the UK, particularly upscale Waitrose. In per-capita size, Waitrose, which is much smaller than Tesco, is arguably the leader in local foods selling in the UK.

Wal-Mart-owned Asda recently announced it would be putting much more emphasis on local foods procuring and merchandising in its UK stores than it has up to now.

Local foods selling is becoming an international trend for Wal-Mart. The mega retailer has focused strongly since last year on procuring and selling local Canadian foods, especially fresh produce and meats and poultry in its Supercenters in that nation.

Wal-Mart also is stepping up its local foods merchandising in the U.S., the retailer's top market. It's stocking more fresh, local produce, meats and poultry, as well as more grocery products of all kinds produced locally throughout its U.S. market regions.

Local Foods Memo: Tesco's 1,000 Mile 'Local' Scottish Chickens

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get into the truck for its 1,000-mile round trip of course.

Retail giant Tesco, the world's number three retailer and the UK's largest supermarket chain, is coming under fire from environmentalists and shoppers today in the United Kingdom (UK) for labeling chickens sold in it's stores as "local" despite the fact the birds' actually have taken a 1,000-mile round trip to be slaughtered, packaged and then transported to the grocer's stores in Scotland.

The thrust of the matter regarding the "local" labeled but well-traveled birds is that the grocery retailer is currently selling chickens in its Scotland stores that have been raised at a chicken farm in North-East Scotland, then sent 499 miles to Essex to be processed, before then being shipped back to the Scotland stores to be sold. Perhaps Tesco should change the label to "locally raised for now. Or, use another local packaging plant.

But, that seems to be the crux of the problem. According to the UK industry trade publication Meat Trades Journal, the chickens killed at the Grampian Country Foods slaughterhouse in Perthshire, Scotland (local so far) are being shipped (at least until today perhaps) to Witham in South-East Essex (499 miles away) for packaging because the regular packaging plant in Banff, Abberdeenshire (which is close to Perthshire) shut down last year. So much for outsourcing locally and then not finding another local packaging plant right away.

UK environmental groups such as Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, are accusing Tesco of a lack of full-disclosure by still labeling the birds as "local." The "green" groups' also are saying the chickens' 1,000-mile round trip--from near the Scotland stores to 499 miles away and back again--is creating unneeded extra food miles and adding to the country's already growing carbon emissions. Sounds logical to us.

Another UK environmental group, Friends of the Earth, also issued a statement today about the non-local, "local chickens." Vicki Hird (rhymes with bird), a Friends of the Earth spokesperson, said: "Consumers thinking they are buying 'greener,' local and Scottish are actually buying pretty travel-sick chicken." In all fairness (at least to the birds) chickens travel much farther than 1,000 to get to the grocery store and are still tasty. But we do get Ms. Hird's point.

Tesco, the world's third-largest retailer, defended its travel itinerary plan for the birds in a statement saying basically it didn't have any option because the local packaging plant closed and they needed to get the chickens packaged for sale at the stores. A Tesco spokesperson didn't comment on how many chickens are being sent on the 1,000-mile round trip journey However, the retailer said it hopes to have the situation solved very soon

The local Grampian Country Foods' packaging plant closed last year (about six months ago), according to Max Tooley, Tesco's technical meat manager for poultry. Tooley added that although the situation has been going on for about six months (then why still label the birds as local we wonder?) it should "hopefully be solved in about two weeks," with the pending approval of a new packaging plant at a new site nearby where the chickens are slaughtered. We're glad it will be solved in two weeks. But that could be a long two weeks if Tesco doesn't take the local label off the chickens' packaging or the shelf.

Tesco shoppers weren't very happy today upon hearing the news that the "local" birds aren't really all that local because of their travels. Consumers buy "local" foods not just because they are raised locally, but also because they are processed and packaged locally as well. In other words, one of the keys to "locally grown" is that the products don't have to travel excessive food miles to get to the stores where shoppers buy them. Local equals a lower carbon footprint.

The locavore (local foods) movement defines a locally-produced food product as one that generally comes from no more than 100 miles from where it is sold at retail and purchased at the grocery store, or elsewhere, by a consumer. This local definition includes the food product being grown, processed, packaged and distributed within that 100-mile distance. Obviously, in the case of the 1,000 mile chickens, they don't quality under that definition.

Meanwhile, the revelation about the well-traveled "local" chickens is a serious hit for Tesco. It's CEO, Sir Terry Leahy, has been arguably the most outspoken of all UK retailers on the need for the supermarket industry to reduce its carbon footprint. In fact, under a plan of Leahy's, Tesco plans to eventually label all of the food and grocery products it sells in its stores with a "carbon footprint" label.

The label, similar to nutritional labels on packaged foods, will inform the consumer where the product was produced, processed and warehoused, and how many food miles it traveled to get to the Tesco store.

Tesco in the UK also has been a major proponent among UK food retailers of buying and selling locally-grown foods in its stores, including beef, pork, poultry and other food and grocery products. Local foods is a major issue among UK consumers, not only as part of the nation's popular and fast-growing green movement, but also as a way of preserving it's shrinking farming industry.

To the latter point, the Tesco chickens are raised locally. However, to the former point, the 1,000- mile journey--to the packaging plant and back again--violates the "green" aspects of the "buy local" movement.

It seems even without their wings, these particular Scottish Tesco chickens are still well-traveled birds.

Food & Community Memo [Interactive]: Davis, California Debates Small-Format and Locally-Owned Grocery Stores vs. Chains and Big-Box Stores

A regular reader of Natural~Specialty Foods Memo informed us via an email of a lively debate currently going on in the city of Davis, California, via a blog called The Peoples Vanguard of Davis, about small-format, local neighborhood grocery stores vs. chain supermarkets and big-box stores for the city.

Davis, home to the Davis campus of the University of California, is a city of about 65,000 people. It's located about 11 miles west of Sacramento.

Davis is well-known for both its educational achievements and social and environmental consciousness. For example, it's ranked as the number two city in the U.S. in terms of the number of its residents who have graduate degrees.

Environmentally, Davis is home to one of America's first comprehensive solar energy housing developments called Village Homes. The innovative solar-energy powered subdivision was built in the 1970's, at a time in the U.S. when most city's and private developers hadn't even though about community-based renewable or alternative energy solutions.

The bicycle is one of the primary means of transportation in Davis. The city has the highest per-capita bicycle ownership of any city in the U.S., and its residents use the two-wheeled, pedal-powered vehicles regularly, and for far more than exercise. The city's official logo, pictured at the top of this piece, even features a bicycle graphic.

Davis also has a iconic public transportation system, thanks in large part to a partnership between the University of California campus, which houses about 30,000 students, and the city. Modern, energy-efficient buses, and older, English-style double-decked buses bought from Britain, traverse the entire city nearly 24 hours-a-day providing low-cost public transportation and eliminating the need for the use of private cars for many residents.

The University of California at Davis is one of the top research universities in the U.S. in the areas of agriculture and food distribution. It's a leader in both the areas of large-scale agribusiness research (including biotechnology) and sustainable, or green, agriculture.

The campus also is the number one research university in America in the areas of enology and viticulture (wine growing and making). Additionally, it's become one of the foremost research centers in the U.S. in the fields of alternative and renewable energy, electric and hybrid car development, and other cutting-edge green technologies.

The city has experienced lots of growth and change over the last 20 years, including a more than doubling of its size. That growth has brought lots of new housing, and many new residents who prefer to live in a University town but commute to their jobs in nearby Sacramento, a city of 500,000 people.

The small-format neighborhood grocery store debate taking place on the local blog is lively, interesting, intelligent and timely.

As our readers know from our numerous pieces, there's a small-format food retailing revolution happening in the U.S. The Davis debate is similar to many of those happening in cities across America. The issues include: locally-owned independent grocery stores vs. big-box stores and Supercenters, small-format, more convenient stores vs larger ones, and the affects these formats have on the environment and local, community economies, just to name a few.

Join The Discussion:

We invite you to read the article that got the debate started on The People's Vanguard of Davis Blog, along with the numerous comments and opinions on the blog regarding the issue.

After you've read the blog article and the reader comments, we also invite you to weigh in , using our comments link below, with your thoughts about small-format vs. big box stores, local food retailers vs. chains, and any other thoughts and opinions you have. We look forward to reading what you have to say.