How can farmers markets in the city be improved?
Imagine walking through an urban square at 8 a.m. and seeing a just-opened farmers market with more than 30 vendors. Shoppers join chefs, some of them in whites, hustling through the market with boxes and wheelbarrows to buy produce before it sells out. The scene plays out in small and large cities around the country.
Pittsburgh is not yet one of those cities. Access to local food is declining because some markets aren’t supported, farmers aren’t making enough money and too many fiefdoms make it more challenging to offer a range of high-quality ingredients.
To examine the city’s farmers markets and where improvements can be made, the city planning
commission has created the Farmers Market Study Community Outreach.
Through a series of interviews and meetings — such as the one held for the public Wednesday night — the study is gathering feedback from customers, vendors and food policy professionals about the eight Citiparks’ farmers markets and 18 more operated by other groups. These include the Market Square Farmers Market, run by the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership, and the Bloomfield Saturday Market run by Bloomfield Development Corp. And it has hired the Farmers Market Coalition based in Kimberton, Chester County, to help. The coalition is a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening farmers markets while ensuring farmers make money.
“We’re not sure what the coalition will recommend,” says Shelly Danko Day, the city’s point person for the study that will take place through December — though it would like to “develop a plan for growth that improves equitable access to fresh, affordable, culturally appropriate food, supports our regional food producers and promotes healthy eating choices for all residents,” reads the announcement for last week’s meeting.
The group is a third of the way through gathering evidence before it offers recommendations.
Local food in decline
In the East End, Citiparks’ East Liberty market — separate from the robust Farmers Market Coop of East Liberty — had been one of the city’s busiest for years. Now it’s on track to close if it doesn’t find a home.
With attendance dwindling, some farmers are dropping out, such as Johnny and April Parker of Edible Earth Farm of Tionesta, Forest County, who, after a couple years, found that they had to put in $600 to $800 worth of labor to pack up and get to any market in Pittsburgh — and attimes lost money or merely brokeeven.
The first Citiparks market opened in 1975. It was started by the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority on the North Side. Vendors would show up when they wanted to, and no one really kept track of who would be there. In the early days, the city charged vendors $3 to participate. Now the city charges more than $200 a year for a space. Vendors also must follow bylaws and safety rules.
In 2014, the manager of the city’s eight farmers markets, Mirella Ranallo, encouraged residents who wanted better access to farmers markets to start their own, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
But more markets don’t always mean better food.
“We absolutely agree that it’s harder now to get the quality food we could get even two years ago,” says Virginia Phillips, co-founder of the now-closed Farmers @ Firehouse, run by Slow Food Pittsburgh.
For years, the market, which was not connected with Citiparks, would set up on Saturday mornings in the Strip District in the Bar Marco parking lot. Yet things changed when four vendors of the 20 to 25 on the roster dropped out.
Operating on a shoestring budget outside the city system, it closed in February 2016.
The closing, said Susan Barclay, who co-ran Farmers@Firehouse, was the perfect storm of circumstances. Adding to their strain were the farmers markets popping up from other neighborhood groups so that they couldn’t fill the slots with new vendors.
“We couldn’t rebound,” Ms. Barclay said.
Access to quality
Because Bloomfield Development Corp. wanted a better market than the neighborhood one run by Citiparks, it broke off to start its own market in 2014. The group had money, as well as a dedicated market manager, Christina Howell, who’s now the executive director for the group. Ms. Howell says they consulted with the Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market as to how to build it.
Today, up to 40 vendors participate at peak times, with 1,300 people who visit the Saturday market at 5050 Liberty Ave.
The vendors sell eggs, baked goods, prepared foods, honey, meats, jerky, coffee and produce. For the bimonthly winter markets, between 350 and 400 visitors attend.
In addition to attracting visitors and offering a means for a group of vendors to make a profit, “this is where we’ve been doing our programming,” Ms. Powell says, noting that the group is using the markets as an opportunity to provide information on health care and nutrition, for example.
“It’s an opportunity the city lost,” she says.
But with an abundance of farmers market fiefdoms, the market strength across town may actually dissipate, as markets compete for farmers and customers.
Better strategies
Cleveland, a similar-sized city with a comparable climate to Pittsburgh, has an entirely different system that allows for diverse offerings, supporting farmers and drawing crowds. The Ohio city started a certified farmers market 23 years ago with the creation of the North Union Farmers Market, which pulls certified vendors from 100 farms in 22 counties. It oversees seven outdoor farmers markets and two indoorwinter markets.
During the height of the season, one of the bigger markets in the city, Shaker Square, has 70 to 80 vendors and sees 12,000 people on a Saturday.
Certified markets vet farmers to ensure they’re growing what they’re selling rather than buying produce at auctions. They help farms run their small-to-midsize businesses with hands-on training. And they diversify what’s available across the city among markets.
Donita Anderson, the executive director of North Union Farmers Market, sought help from what’s now GrowNYC, the New York City Greenmarket.
Building a greenmarket is “very hard to do,” Ms. Anderson says.
As to what makes a city’s farmers market coalition successful, she says, “You have to be stubborn. And you have to find the right leaders” to carry out message and mission.
The bottom line is, farmers have to make money to be successful.
“They have to sell their whole truckload,” Ms. Anderson says.
Prices also have to be competitive with grocery store prices.
“The price point can’t be so exorbitant people can’t afford it,” she says.
As far as speaking to potential customers, she says, “We use every marketing skill we have.”
To reach those who may be reluctant to pay a bit more for local fare or to go out of their neighborhood to shop, Ms. Anderson suggests using those marketing skills to speak to every demographic: the well-read shopper; the shopper who makes more than $100,000; the shopper who uses food stamp benefits.
The most important time to market is when sweetness is in season: berries, sweet corn, peaches and tomatoes. Ultimately, she says, “flavor sells.”