August 7, 2006
A growing business | Farmers and towns find benefits in farmers' markets
By Joseph R. Thompson
Every Wednesday around 9:00 a.m., Daniel Perron sets up a stand at the Portland Farmers' Market in Monument Square. There, he unloads large white coolers filled with pork loins, ham steaks, sausages, eggs and chickens. Portland is one of the three retail locations he visits each week, including a new store at his 19-acre farm in Sumner and the Bethel Farmers' Market. But what's a big seller in one location might not be in great demand at others. "Bethel is a tourist town," said Perron. "I can sell sausage like crazy in Bethel, but I can't sell a roast. Down here I can sell a roast and the sausage moves."
Due to city code, however, Perron almost wasn't able to sell sausages or roasts in Portland at all this summer. Although he received a permit to do so last year without much trouble, growing interest among farmers in selling meat products led Portland officials to realize that city code prohibited the practice at the farmers' market.
Rather than pass up the chance to sell fresh meat in Maine's biggest city, Perron pushed to change the rules. He got in contact with Larry Bruns, owner of Hanson Field Flower Farm in Scarborough and the liaison between the market and the city. Bruns, who has been selling at the market for 12 years, e-mailed every member of the city council asking for their help to change the ordinance ˆ which they did in May by passing an emergency ordinance.
The issue was crucial to Perron because, unlike many of the other farmers at the Portland Farmers' Market who sell fruits, vegetables and plants, he owns a hog farm. The meat he sells at the three seasonal markets accounts for 80% percent of his annual sales. But the reaction of the Portland City Council shows that just as the downtown market helps support farmers, it's also a boost to the city itself. The farmers' markets create a spillover effect, drawing shoppers to the temporary market who then also visit area businesses.
That's why farmers' markets have become important additions to urban communities, said Deanne Herman, marketing manager for the Maine Department of Agriculture and the state farmers market representative. "A few years ago farmers had to struggle to find where to put their markets," said Herman. "And now the communities are saying, 'Hey, where are the farmers? We want a market.'"
In 1970, according to Herman, the Portland Farmers' Market was the only one operating in Maine. Today, GetRealMaine.com ˆ a website that promotes Maine agriculture ˆ lists 61 different markets across the state, including one that started last year in Herman's hometown of Waterville. And, unlike in the 70s, the farmers don't necessarily have to ask for the space. "Communities are actually reaching out to the farmers, saying 'We want you here,'" said Herman, citing Waterville as an example. "The city's providing a great location and overseeing the logistics to make the market, but they're also asking farmers what products are allowed. The farmers are directly involved in all the decision making." (For more on Waterville's market, see "In charge," page 20.)
Even cities like Portland with long-running markets are finding ways to be more accommodating. For example, new ordinances and changes to existing ordinances in Portland typically take 30 days before they go into effect. For farmers like Daniel Perron, that would have meant missing the majority of this summer waiting for meat sales to be legal. "The council was very unified on the matter and there was a desire on the parts of the vendors to begin providing this option during our limited season," said Portland Mayor James Cohen. "I think it's important for the council and the city to take an active interest in business activities in the city, including the farmers' market, and when there are opportunities to expand the business pie to move quickly to put policies in place to allow that."
For the farmers, this expansion of farmers' markets around Maine means getting closer to their potential customers and accessing more profitable markets than just wholesale auctions. "I know exactly what they're looking for," said Perron of his farmers' market customers. "And, it gives me a retail price for what my food is worth."
Market and business incubator
Perron's grandfather came from Canada to Maine, where he bought his first cow and started a dairy farm that his son, Daniel Perron's father, eventually inherited. Like most dairy farmers, Perron's father sold milk for wholesale prices at auction, which taught the younger Perron the value of selling retail instead. "With my father's milk business the market basically told him what he could be paid," Perron said. "Now, I have a little bit more control than that. The market can only bear so much, obviously, butˆ if I know I can get a little bit more, and I need a little bit more, then I can."
By selling retail, he also is able to offset the impact of decades of centralization in the food distribution market, according to Herman. The economies of scale afforded to big operations make it difficult for the smaller farmers to compete, unless they target smaller markets such as consumers looking for Maine-grown products. "Most farmers are finding that they can't compete in the big, mass-distribution, commodity market," said Herman. "They are finding that by keeping the farm identity and the Maine identity on the product, they are allowed to more profitably sell to the Maine consumer."
Still, direct sales remain a tiny niche in the agriculture world. Direct sales through farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs and farm stands accounted for $1.17 million, or less then one percent of Maine's total agriculture sales in 2002, the most recent data available.
Currently, Perron is grossing about $700 each week from his three retail locations. Of this, about $300 comes from his Wednesdays in Portland. Still, last year he and his wife, Holly Perron ˆ who ran the booth that season ˆ didn't make a profit at the market, due to the costs of raising hogs and paying for them to be processed. "We had so much invested and we're doing this cash out of pocket so I reinvested everything we made," said Perron. "People ask, 'How can you work so hard and still be poor?' The value of farming is not always in the cash balance. For me it's a way of life."
To increase his profitability at the market, though, Perron is planning to increase value-added products like chicken breasts and thighs ˆ rather than just selling whole birds. But he doesn't plan on growing much beyond that. "I don't want to expand right now," said Perron. "I want to do what I'm doing now well. I will grow, but not just under the pressures of demand."
Even if he doesn't grow into a larger retail business, his experience exemplifies one of the long-term benefits that markets provide farms, says Herman: Farmers markets are excellent incubators for small business. "For example, Stonewall Kitchen started at farmers' markets and it's now one of the biggest food business in the state," she said. "Now, the York Farmers' Market is located in the Stonewall Kitchen facility's parking lot."
That's not to say that all farmers are entirely enamored of the farmers' market model. Rachel Seemar, the former manager of Wolf Pine Farm in Alfred, is in the process of starting her own farm in Kennebunk. She's renting a 65-acre spread on which she plans to grow produce and eventually lambs to be sold for their meat, but is still studying which markets will be worth her time. Her concern is that she sticks to markets with a good balance of local farmers selling a variety of goods, to allow each farm to offer something unique. Because of this, larger markets like the Portland Farmers' Market are less appealing. "It's a question of how many vegetable growers are already there," said Seemar. "I think for the first couple years I'd just have vegetables and eggs. My booth would be pretty similar to a lot of people there."
But other farmers who sell at local markets say they don't mind being alongside dozens of potential competitors, because of the benefits of making a direct connection between consumer, food and farmer. "The folks that shop at the Portland Farmers' Market become quite friendly and loyal to the farmers they shop with," said Larry Bruns. "They build relationships with them."
For Bruns, this loyalty translated into increased customers at his greenhouse in Scarborough ˆ and a gross from the Portland Farmers' Market between $1,000-$2,000 each day. For Perron, there is also a more personal reason to continue setting up his stands and interacting with the public at farmers' markets across Maine. "In my father's day, it was the image of the dirty farmer, the dumb farmer," said Perron. Now, Perron is received very differently. "It's like, 'Ah, the farmers are back ˆ spring is here.' It's like we're their connection to nature."
Due to city code, however, Perron almost wasn't able to sell sausages or roasts in Portland at all this summer. Although he received a permit to do so last year without much trouble, growing interest among farmers in selling meat products led Portland officials to realize that city code prohibited the practice at the farmers' market.
Rather than pass up the chance to sell fresh meat in Maine's biggest city, Perron pushed to change the rules. He got in contact with Larry Bruns, owner of Hanson Field Flower Farm in Scarborough and the liaison between the market and the city. Bruns, who has been selling at the market for 12 years, e-mailed every member of the city council asking for their help to change the ordinance ˆ which they did in May by passing an emergency ordinance.
The issue was crucial to Perron because, unlike many of the other farmers at the Portland Farmers' Market who sell fruits, vegetables and plants, he owns a hog farm. The meat he sells at the three seasonal markets accounts for 80% percent of his annual sales. But the reaction of the Portland City Council shows that just as the downtown market helps support farmers, it's also a boost to the city itself. The farmers' markets create a spillover effect, drawing shoppers to the temporary market who then also visit area businesses.
That's why farmers' markets have become important additions to urban communities, said Deanne Herman, marketing manager for the Maine Department of Agriculture and the state farmers market representative. "A few years ago farmers had to struggle to find where to put their markets," said Herman. "And now the communities are saying, 'Hey, where are the farmers? We want a market.'"
In 1970, according to Herman, the Portland Farmers' Market was the only one operating in Maine. Today, GetRealMaine.com ˆ a website that promotes Maine agriculture ˆ lists 61 different markets across the state, including one that started last year in Herman's hometown of Waterville. And, unlike in the 70s, the farmers don't necessarily have to ask for the space. "Communities are actually reaching out to the farmers, saying 'We want you here,'" said Herman, citing Waterville as an example. "The city's providing a great location and overseeing the logistics to make the market, but they're also asking farmers what products are allowed. The farmers are directly involved in all the decision making." (For more on Waterville's market, see "In charge," page 20.)
Even cities like Portland with long-running markets are finding ways to be more accommodating. For example, new ordinances and changes to existing ordinances in Portland typically take 30 days before they go into effect. For farmers like Daniel Perron, that would have meant missing the majority of this summer waiting for meat sales to be legal. "The council was very unified on the matter and there was a desire on the parts of the vendors to begin providing this option during our limited season," said Portland Mayor James Cohen. "I think it's important for the council and the city to take an active interest in business activities in the city, including the farmers' market, and when there are opportunities to expand the business pie to move quickly to put policies in place to allow that."
For the farmers, this expansion of farmers' markets around Maine means getting closer to their potential customers and accessing more profitable markets than just wholesale auctions. "I know exactly what they're looking for," said Perron of his farmers' market customers. "And, it gives me a retail price for what my food is worth."
Market and business incubator
Perron's grandfather came from Canada to Maine, where he bought his first cow and started a dairy farm that his son, Daniel Perron's father, eventually inherited. Like most dairy farmers, Perron's father sold milk for wholesale prices at auction, which taught the younger Perron the value of selling retail instead. "With my father's milk business the market basically told him what he could be paid," Perron said. "Now, I have a little bit more control than that. The market can only bear so much, obviously, butˆ if I know I can get a little bit more, and I need a little bit more, then I can."
By selling retail, he also is able to offset the impact of decades of centralization in the food distribution market, according to Herman. The economies of scale afforded to big operations make it difficult for the smaller farmers to compete, unless they target smaller markets such as consumers looking for Maine-grown products. "Most farmers are finding that they can't compete in the big, mass-distribution, commodity market," said Herman. "They are finding that by keeping the farm identity and the Maine identity on the product, they are allowed to more profitably sell to the Maine consumer."
Still, direct sales remain a tiny niche in the agriculture world. Direct sales through farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs and farm stands accounted for $1.17 million, or less then one percent of Maine's total agriculture sales in 2002, the most recent data available.
Currently, Perron is grossing about $700 each week from his three retail locations. Of this, about $300 comes from his Wednesdays in Portland. Still, last year he and his wife, Holly Perron ˆ who ran the booth that season ˆ didn't make a profit at the market, due to the costs of raising hogs and paying for them to be processed. "We had so much invested and we're doing this cash out of pocket so I reinvested everything we made," said Perron. "People ask, 'How can you work so hard and still be poor?' The value of farming is not always in the cash balance. For me it's a way of life."
To increase his profitability at the market, though, Perron is planning to increase value-added products like chicken breasts and thighs ˆ rather than just selling whole birds. But he doesn't plan on growing much beyond that. "I don't want to expand right now," said Perron. "I want to do what I'm doing now well. I will grow, but not just under the pressures of demand."
Even if he doesn't grow into a larger retail business, his experience exemplifies one of the long-term benefits that markets provide farms, says Herman: Farmers markets are excellent incubators for small business. "For example, Stonewall Kitchen started at farmers' markets and it's now one of the biggest food business in the state," she said. "Now, the York Farmers' Market is located in the Stonewall Kitchen facility's parking lot."
That's not to say that all farmers are entirely enamored of the farmers' market model. Rachel Seemar, the former manager of Wolf Pine Farm in Alfred, is in the process of starting her own farm in Kennebunk. She's renting a 65-acre spread on which she plans to grow produce and eventually lambs to be sold for their meat, but is still studying which markets will be worth her time. Her concern is that she sticks to markets with a good balance of local farmers selling a variety of goods, to allow each farm to offer something unique. Because of this, larger markets like the Portland Farmers' Market are less appealing. "It's a question of how many vegetable growers are already there," said Seemar. "I think for the first couple years I'd just have vegetables and eggs. My booth would be pretty similar to a lot of people there."
But other farmers who sell at local markets say they don't mind being alongside dozens of potential competitors, because of the benefits of making a direct connection between consumer, food and farmer. "The folks that shop at the Portland Farmers' Market become quite friendly and loyal to the farmers they shop with," said Larry Bruns. "They build relationships with them."
For Bruns, this loyalty translated into increased customers at his greenhouse in Scarborough ˆ and a gross from the Portland Farmers' Market between $1,000-$2,000 each day. For Perron, there is also a more personal reason to continue setting up his stands and interacting with the public at farmers' markets across Maine. "In my father's day, it was the image of the dirty farmer, the dumb farmer," said Perron. Now, Perron is received very differently. "It's like, 'Ah, the farmers are back ˆ spring is here.' It's like we're their connection to nature."
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