Notes From the Farm:

At What Cost

In our March/April 2015 issue, farmer Teresa Vanek discusses the conundrum of deciding how to price
the food that her family sells at local markets. “Pricing the food that we grow is a ticklish thing. Ideally from the farmer’s perspective there is some relationship to the effort it takes to grow a given crop to marketable size. But to most consumers the right price is only reflective of the food value of the vegetable in question,” Teresa writes. Indeed, farmers and consumers are in a difficult situation in these rough economic times: Farmers need to keep their prices above a certain point to stay afloat, while some consumers are still hurting financially and high food prices at the local farmers’ market may coerce them to go to their local supermarket instead to find prices they find more reasonable. In her piece, Teresa argues in favor of shopping at your local farmers’ market to directly support not only small businesses, but the entire agricultural landscape surrounding us.

For Teresa Vanek’s full story, grab a copy of our March/April Issue at one of these businesses!