Farmers-market food costs less, class finds
Ask shoppers laden with cherries, bok choy and asparagus what compels them to visit farmers markets and most cite live music, flowers, the smell of good things pulled from the earth or out of the oven, and the chance to support local farmers.
Rarely does anyone mention the prices. Which got Stacey Jones to wondering why.
Last month, the economics professor and her business-statistics class at Seattle University compared prices for organic produce at the Broadway Farmers Market with that sold at the local QFC supermarket and Madison Market, one of several cooperatively owned grocery stores in the region.
To their surprise, the farmers market was slightly less expensive pound for pound, on average, for 15 items that included Fuji apples, red potatoes, baby carrots, spinach and salad mix.
"There's sort of a common perception that the farmers market is more expensive. A lot of people feel they're doing the farmers a favor," Jones said.
"I always assumed you pay a premium," said Daniel Robins, one of Jones' students, who regularly shops the West Seattle Farmers Market with his parents.
Such perceptions make it tough to attract customers whose chief concern is value, said Chris Curtis, who heads the group that organizes most of Seattle's markets, the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance.
Market prices are more consistent, she said, because farmers set them without having to split each dollar among distributors, packing houses and warehouses as conventional grocers do.
That lack of middlemen is why farmers markets are so competitive, agreed Kristin Maas, a QFC spokeswoman.
"They're a great way to stay connected with the community, and pricewise, we're not always going to be able to compete directly with them because their overhead is different. But we're also able to offer a lot more variety, and we work with a lot of growers throughout the state and region," Maas said.
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Farmers-market food costs less, class finds
