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By Ramona Frances

Ella Shasky of Shasky Farms displays fruit at Madera's Farmers Market.

Photo by: Wendy Alexander

Secundino "Sacky" Martinez-Pulido of First Generation Farms is one of the venders at the Farmers Market in Courthouse Park. Pulido encouraged customers to sample the watermelon.

Photo by: Wendy Alexander

True Warner and his father John sell produce, plants and flowers at the Farmers Market in Madera. The Warners own Whole Systems Argriculture.

Photo by: Wendy Alexander

Farmers, communities and shoppers all benefit from farmers' markets, said a food systems analyst who studied data collected on the growth of farmers' markets.

Madera's seasonal Farmers' Market, which opened the first time last summer and again this summer, has been added to the list.

"There was a huge rise in farmers' markets in the last 40 years," said Gail Feenstra, with the UC Davis Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, "and I wanted to find out why."

Feenstra said that in 1970 there were only 340 farmers' markets in United States, but by 2006 more than 4,385 farmers' markets were opened, an increase of 1,300 percent.

"California makes up more than 11 percent or almost 500 markets, half of which are open year-round," she said.

Feenstra believes farmers benefit from the ability to sell smaller and variable quantities, while learning skills they need to increase their business. Her article "The Roles of Farmers Markets in Fueling Local Economies," which appeared in the newly released Food for Thought issue of the journal Gastronomic Sciences, reported that direct marketing venues such as farmers' markets help farmers sell their products in local communities for higher prices than they could get from wholesalers.

Ella Shasky of Shasky Farms said she only sells at certified farmers' markets, two in Merced, one in Mariposa, one in Los Banos and one in Madera.

"We tree ripen our fruit," she said. "It's the best it can be. It's nice for the consumer to have fresh and flavorful produce. Traditional markets don't typically sell tree-ripened fruit."

Another vendor, John Warner of Whole Systems Agriculture of Madera, said he and his family sell flowers and produce locally because the "direct-market" approach is a good one.

"We like not going to regular jobs, consuming gas everyday," he said. "With the decline of oil production, this is the wave of the future. Global marketing is on its way out and we want to be on the ground floor."

Warner said he believes that when jet fuel rises to $10 a gallon and bananas and flowers become too expensive to fly in, consumers will look more to buying and selling locally. "We can sell locally grown much cheaper," he said.

Unlike other marketing outlets, established farmers' markets appear to tolerate fluctuations in quantity and varieties throughout the season.

Feenstra said the total gross receipts farmers receive at farmers markets, although modest by comparison to supermarkets, are still significant. Her 1999 study of California farmers' markets estimated total annual sales at approximately $140 million. She noted that the Davis Farmers Market averaged $2 million in annual sales in 2006 for its year-round weekly market (eight hours of sales per week).

Communities that support local agricultural production systems and food marketing as part of a diversified economic development plan have greater control over their destinies, Feenstra said. An important way that communities support and benefit from farmers markets is through social interaction.

"It is nice to be part of a community of farmers who grow," Warner said. "But Madera is still a new market. We have been established in Fresno for years."

Feenstra said the social benefit that farmers' markets bring to communities is significant. In an interview with market patrons, she identified farmers' markets as a major place of interaction between farmers, customers and new visitors.

She cited research that shows markets not only encourage economic transactions on their premises, but also bring people into town where they make purchases at other businesses.

Customers Feenstra interviewed expressed positive feelings about buying food they believe to be clean and safe from farmers they know.

Low-income and elderly community residents receive particular benefits from WIC certified farmers' markets. Many markets accept food stamps or vouchers from the Farmers Market Nutrition Program or the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program. Feenstra noted that farmers' markets have become the foundation of local food systems for low-income clientele and several ethnic groups in many regions of California.

"At this point in history, when we see cracks in the health of our environment, economic and social systems, declining natural resources, rising obesity rates, creating and sustaining local food economies with farmers' markets may be both an admirable goal and a necessity," Feenstra said.

"The markets are important exchange networks that offer farmers, consumers and communities opportunities to participate in and strengthen the local food economies in unique places."

Madera's Farmers Market is held Thursday's at Court House Park in downtown Madera from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Ramona Frances Ramona Frances is a staff columnist, writer and photographer for the Madera Tribune. You may contact Ramona at 674.8134 ext. 222 or by e-mail ramona (at) maderatribune.net The Madera Tribune online subscription To subscribe or log on, CLICK HERE. For more information first, CLICK HERE.