The USDA’s listing of farmers’ markets relies on market managers to update the listings, so this is one directory each market must update individually. With a lot of publicity coming down the pike for National Farmers’ Market Week (August 7-13, to be celebrated here as Maine Farmers’ Market Snapshot Week), now is the time to make […]
Many farmers’ markets set up in public parks, municipal parking lots, and other public spaces. There are a range of creative partnerships around the region, but sometimes misunderstandings arise, often due to misperceptions about the structure and operation of farmers’ markets. These are some common questions that come up in meetings between municipal officers and FMs, along […]
Ronda Stone of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry recently issued this new policy to help ensure the safety of food samples at farmers’ markets: POLICY FOOD SAMPLING AT FARMERS’ MARKETS APRIL 13, 2016 This policy amends, updates and supersedes the previous policy “Sampling of Food Products at Farmers Markets” dated March 18, 2010. The […]
Where are Your Farmers’ Market Signs? Maine is largely free of the scourge of billboards, but at the cost of some fairly complex rules around signage (as recently outlined in an article in the Portland Press Herald). Fortunately, the state allows farmers’ markets more latitude than bricks-and-mortar businesses in the area of signage. Here is […]
A debit-type CSA works well at farmers’ market I have attended farmers’ markets since 1983, yet the whole idea of a CSA has always fascinated me as a practical method to market my farm’s produce. Having customers get a box of food each week that they paid for at the beginning of the season seemed […]
by Bob Bowen When we started in the farmers market, we sold chickens and meat with a small (and CHEAP!) set of table scales. They weren’t sealed for retail sales but no one caught us. And we kept checking them to assure us that we were being fair. And we tended to charge to the […]
Traditional retailing wisdom says it is of the utmost importance to give customers exactly what they pay for. Any less, and you are cheating the customer; any more and you are cheating yourself. Being rather non-traditionalist myself, allow me to offer an amended view. Many markets and farmers have a budget for what they refer […]
In many Japanese martial arts, there is a differentiation between the SHŌ (say ‘show’) of the art and the DŌ (say ‘dough’) of the art. Basically, the DŌ is the functional part of the art, how to make the movements and what they are useful for, both in terms of spiritual centering and self-defense. On […]
by Dick Keough, Brunswick Market How do you feel about your customers? How do your customers feel about your farmstand? Do you get cash tips from your customers? Do your customers give you gifts? Do you give needy people a gift of your product or a discount? Do you get asked to help local groups […]
Analysis tries to understand things by breaking them down into their components. Synthesis tries to understand a thing by combining and processing information in its surroundings. Do you determine your prices by building them up from their component costs? Or do you look at how your prices will fit into the entire market ecology that […]