Your source for fruit and vegetable news

By Bobbie Whitehead

With crates of watermelons and cantaloupes as well as tomatoes and corn lined up in neat rows along the shelves in Grayson & Emma’s Garden Spot, customers can find a variety of locally-grown produce as well as homemade apple or peach jacks along with a soda for the road.

The market, having operated for the past four years along Route 58 in Courtland, attracts many tourists heading to Virginia Beach as well as those heading to Interstate 95 as they travel farther south.

Despite the number of cars, thousands a day, which travel along Route 58, Neil Drake, owner of Grayson & Emma’s Garden Spot, says it’s the local shoppers who keep him in business.
“For the most part, there’s not as much demand right now,” Drake said. “This time of year, business will drop by about 10 percent; then, it picks up after school settles in. We still are busy, but it’s mostly locals. I wouldn’t make it without the local customers. About 70 percent of my business is local.”

Drake and other local farmers markets or roadside stands may become even more popular in their communities since agriculture experts project considerable growth through 2012, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Marketing Service report.

The report, “Supply Chain Basics: The Dynamics of Change in the U.S. Food Marketing Environment,” details the changes in the retail food marketing, particularly the interest by grocery chains seeking locally-grown products to the consumer popularity of farmers markets.

“The value of direct-to-consumer food sales in the United States grew 37 percent between 1997-2002 – from $592 million to $812 million – reflecting the enormous growth in the number and accessibility of direct-to-consumer marketing outlets, especially in urban and suburban neighborhoods,” the report notes, citing figures from the 2002 Census of Agriculture.

More striking, though, the USDA Marketing Service reports that the increase in direct-to-consumer food sales has increased because of the growth in the popularity and establishment of more farmers markets, community-supported agriculture as well as roadside stands.

In 1994, about 1,750 farmers markets operated in the United States, and this figure jumped to 4,475 by September 2007, according to the report.

In 2006, the USDA released statistics, showing that U.S. farmers markets alone “were estimated to generate more than $1 billion in sales per year.”

“The exponential growth in access to direct marketing outlets, such as farmers markets and CSAs, throughout the country appears to have stimulated significant growth in the value of locally grown food sold to consumers,” the USDA Marketing Service reports.

For farmers markets as well as growers selling from roadside stands that capitalize on this locally-grown trend, direct marketing and location are important factors, said Dr. Reza Rafie, Virginia State University horticulture extension agent.

“It’s so fundamental for people to be proactive,” Rafie said. “Traditionally, growers have sold to wholesalers, who then sell to the retailers. But the trend now is to get rid of the middle person.”

Rafie said consumers are interested in local produce, and the growers who gain the most business are those located in a well-traveled area or those near the metropolitan areas.But also knowing what type of products the consumers want as well as the type of packaging they want is important.

“The whole issue of locally-grown has taken off,” Rafie said. “People are excited and want farmers to be around. Locally-grown is a way of generating business in communities.”

The factors that determine a grower’s success, he said, are location, quality of product, promotion, and the convenience of available parking and the ability to walk to the market.”

In Western Tidewater, consumers have numerous markets and roadside stands to visit. Markets such as the Windsor Farmers Market as well as the Olde Towne Curb Market in Smithfield experienced an increase in customers’ visits once produce became available, said Marci Parish, Isle of Wight County markets coordinator.

While local produce is expected to slow down some, the next few months will actually be busy with the interest in fall-season crops such as squash and pumpkins, Drake said.

“This is an exciting time of year,” he said.