Please send any questions, comments or suggestions to: Amy Todd, Brandeis University, Department of Anthropology, Brown 228, Waltham, MA 02254-9110
E-mail: atodd@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
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I began researching farmers' markets in August 1995 in preparation for dissertation fieldwork on marketplace regulation in Oaxaca, Mexico. From September through November, I engaged in participant-observation fieldwork at a weekly farmers' market in suburban Boston. For comparison, I visited other farmers' markets in the Greater Boston area.
Like all marketplaces, farmers' markets in the United States are regulated at many levels. There are rules governing sanitation, weights and measures, where and when vending may take place and what may be vended. A crucial aspect of marketplace regulation concerns the criteria by which vendors are recruited into (or excluded from) the marketplace. This issue has particular saliency with respect to farmers' markets in the United States.
Since the late 1970s, farmers' markets have been supported by federal programs, such as the distribution of food stamps redeemable only at farmers' markets. For example, in Massachusetts, to be classified as a `farmers' market,' and thus receive the benefits of these programs, vendors are supposed to comply with a number of regulations. The Massachusetts Department of Agriculture consults with the Federation of yMassachusetts Farmers' Markets, a voluntary, private association, to establish complex guidelines for participation in farmers' markets. Such rules and regulations, however, are not consistent across marketplaces, nor is the enforcement of these rules consistent.
To probe these regulatory issues, I accompanied a local farmers' market manager to the North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Conference in Saratoga, New York from February 22 to February 24, 1996. This years' conference was run by the Executive Director of the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers' Markets. The 1,400 conference participants included farmers, managers of markets, policy makers and government administrators. I observed an all-day seminar for farmers' market managers and a series of presentations and roundtable discussions focussing on farmers' markets. In each of these sessions, there was active audience participation, during which a number of problems concerning the regulation of farmers' markets emerged.
Among participants of the North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Conference, there was disagreement over the primary function of farmers' markets, and a corresponding disagreement over the function of regulation -- particularly regulation governing the recruitment of vendors into the marketplace. This was not a simple disagreement between farmers and regulators, as the farmers themselves did not agree.
Farmers' markets, by definition, are producers' markets, meaning vendors are also farmers. A major function of farmers' markets is, therefore, to support local farmers. Another major function of farmers' markets is to provision customers, often in urban areas, with local produce. During the conference, disagreement over the relative weighting of these two functions emerged.
Some participants viewed regulation as a means of supporting farmers by ensuring that vendors operate on a "fair playing field." For these participants, regulation was seen as preventing, or limiting, the selling of produce not grown by the vendor. Since resellers (labeled "peddlers" or "hawkers") may be able to provide produce not grown locally, or may be able to undercut the price of locally grown produce, their presence was seen as putting farmers at a competitive disadvantage.
Other participants argued that the primary function of farmers' markets is to serve the customer. For these participants, regulation that discourages resale was seen as "protectionist," creating an "artificial market." Some vendors favored deregulation, which they believed would encourage "free enterprise," allowing vendors to respond with greater flexibility to the needs of customers. Deregulation, it was argued, would enable farmers' markets to more effectively compete with other produce markets, including supermarkets.
The complexity of these opposing positions has been revealed in legal disputes between vendors and regulators. At the conference, I met regional coordinators of marketplace systems throughout the country. These individuals were willing to discuss various legal disputes between vendors and regulators. In sum, my observations at the North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Conference revealed disagreement among participants over the function of farmers' markets and, correspondingly, over the function of regulation.
While there are some problems concerning regulation that may be unique to farmers' markets in the United States, the conference revealed more general issues concerning regulation of marketplaces. It became clear that regulation may depend on the perceived function of marketplaces. Because marketplaces may serve multiple, sometimes conflicting functions, the regulations promoting these functions may also be in conflict. I plan to pay significant attention to this problem during my dissertation fieldwork in Oaxaca, Mexico.
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