The Market is Open

I usually make these entries very light hearted, but this weekend I read an opinion article in the New York Times that has me pondering the state of local food, and since this is all about local food, I thought I would interject my thoughts about said article. You can view the article here http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/opinion/sunday/dont-let-your-children-grow-up-to-be-farmers.html?_r=0

The article basically states that small local farms are not making money, and throws out the number of negative $1453 in income for the average farmer per year.
We ourselves are not making money (yet), but I feel that this is due to building infrastructure on a new farm. We are subsidizing our farm with my husbands income, at this point. So on those points I agree, it is extremely hard to start a farm, to find land that you can afford, and to afford all the equipment that goes along with farming.
What I do see is demand! The demand is there for healthy food. People want to eat the best tomato for dinner. What concerns me is the connection with what food should cost. It isn’t just about what the farmer puts into it, seeds, compost, fertilizer and time. It is also about the future of the farmer. If the farmer is only reimbursed for his expenses, that does not give them enough to plan for a future, have health insurance, or help with their child’s college fund. When people tell me I charge to much, I simply answer that I deserve a living wage too. You wouldn’t expect any less from your job. I shouldn’t be expected to receive any less from mine. What happens when we charge too little for our product? We simply cannot afford to stay in the business. We are losing too many small farms to this mistake. The average age of farmers now is 56, and I do not know too many young adults that want to become farmers. It is a hard sell! Maybe the big grain farmers are making a profit, but are the small food farmers? I think this is about education, informing our customers that food farming is an expensive business. I know that we have lots of retired folks that grow food and sell it fairly cheap, but what happens when they are gone? Who takes up growing food at that cheap a rate?
I know this is a heavy subject, but one that needs to change in order for us (small farmers) to continue to grow food and sustain our farms and families.
I can only speak to my situation, but despite the above issues, I feel hopeful that our community can grow a local foods movement that not only grows food but grows new farmers because they know their community supports them.
See you at the market on Friday,
Angela