How many of us have witnessed a farm stand, whether it be at the side of the road or camping out in a parking lot of some other business with a sign proclaiming “Local Produce”? A show of hands is not necessary here, in fact, that would be quite absurd through this medium, but I digress. Nonetheless, this term, “local”, when used in reference to produce has become quite an issue on the, well, local farming front. But how so?
In part one of this entry, the fact that the Downtown Westminster Farmer’s Market is “Producer Only”, along with why that came to be was described. So, fine, there is “local” produce available in downtown Westminster.
Well, two Saturdays ago, another farm stand appeared two parking lots down from our market on another business’ private parking lot. Admittedly, from my vantage point, a sign promoting “local” produce could not be seen, but, BUT, those of us true farmers knew EXACTLY what was at play in that newly arrived “farm” stand.
To pause, those of us who offer our produce at the Downtown Westminster Farmer’s Market work rather hard to bring our fresh, LOCAL produce to the market, and we have pride about what we have to offer. Our efforts extend over months, many times starting in late December or early January when seeds are purchased for the season. Through experience, we have learned when to start the seeds, whether as transplants or directly in the soil. But ultimately, there is a timeline for us that determines when particular produce will be ready for harvest, and this timeline is the weather. In April, the temperature is normally too cold for crops such as melons and corn to grow, let alone survive. As a result, those plants are started for mid to late May. As the first June farmer’s market arrives, those plants are long from harvestable in our “local” region.
So, when that new farm stand appeared two Saturdays ago selling cantaloupes, watermelons and corn, those of us true LOCAL farmers quickly understood, that that stand was yet another merchant after a quick buck. True, what was offered was produce, but “local” would not be an accurate term. While the faux farm stand had full sized and ripe watermelon, the watermelon growing at our farms were the size of walnuts, that is many weeks away from harvest. And corn? Not even close. If that faux farm stand offered “local” produce, what would “local” mean?
Again, for those of us true farmers, it did not matter, that stand represented a very bad element in what appears to be the agricultural system. The people that operated that faux farm stand in no way had anything to do with growing the produce sold, nor was it local, but I will get back to that. That amount of stock produce is normally purchased from the produce depot in Jessup. Such people are merely hawkers of an inferior product that originates from far, far away. The sad part is that most customers have no idea about this. For them, a farm stand is a farm stand. If one sells watermelon and the others do not, so be it, they will purchase from the one that has it. This is very frustrating to those of us who work so hard through the normal required toil, along with the unforeseeable weather fluctuations, in order to bring fresh, LOCAL produce to the market. We don’t cheat. Unfortunately, many others do, just to make a buck.
“Local” as defined by Webster’s dictionary is “primarily serving the needs of a particular limited district.” That definition does not help much. When watermelon appears at the farm stand over a month early, it must originate far away, like, perhaps Georgia, or California, Mexico or even Chile. Are any of those venues “local”? I have been told that this unclear definition is now to be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture for the state of Maryland. Soon, the term “local” when referring to produce will have a definite meaning, most likely being any county in the state of Maryland or any contiguously bordering county in neighboring states. Once that is finalized, corn from North Carolina will not be “local”.
Ah, but what nonsense all of that is. The reason why we made our market “producer only” was to avoid any of this confusion. Our regulations require that all of our produce be grown by the farmer that sells it. Period. So, when you see a farm stand question where the produce comes from. If the vendors grew the produce they will know. Better yet, attend our “producer only” farmer’s market and know that our produce is fresh, local and grown by our farmers. Support your LOCAL farmer!