Steaming humidity often clings to the Red Stick Farmers Market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, but it’s not unbearable for the vendors who spend their days away from the market tending to farms across the state.
Organizing, traveling and vending at these markets takes time away from farmers’ field work, but for many, these events prove critical for sales. They present an opportunity for farmers to meet the local community and demonstrate the importance of buying local produce.
Galen Iverstine, a political science senior, runs a pasture-based livestock operation that cares for beef cattle, Berkshire hogs and pasture-raised chickens. Though leaving his work in Kentwood takes time and effort, he said these events generate about 60 percent of his sales.
“I’m a solo operation, so it’s a full-time just getting here and getting back to manage the farm,” Iverstine said. “But it’s important to be out here.”
At these farmers markets, vendors sell products directly to customers rather than selling to grocery stores, produce stands or other vendors. As a result, farmers receive more profits directly from buyers.
Charles and Jynell Glaser grow vegetables in New Roads and attend two farmers markets a week. Charles said most profits come from these markets, while wholesaling would only allow them to sell their produce for half its regular price, at best. The two also run a roadside stand at their farm, but 15 years with local farmers markets has generated 70 percent of profits.
“And that’s only two days a week, whereas at our farm, we’re open five days a week,” he said. “It’s much, much better. It’s really kept us in business.”
Iverstine said farmers markets allow farmers to meet and create relationships with customers. Customers often learn about the benefits of buying local as well, which Betsy Fazekas, a Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance local food outreach manager and University alumna, said includes health, environmental and economic advantages.
“It’s fresher, it tastes better, it has more nutritional value than what you find at a grocery store,” Fazekas said. “The produce you buy in a grocery store is coming from hundreds to thousands of miles away.”
BREADA is a nonprofit organization that helps organize these Red Stick Farmers Markets. BREADA’s standards of local include produce grown within a 100-mile radius of its purchased location. This generally includes most of Louisiana and the border of Mississippi. Much of the produce for BREADA’s farmers markets arrives from Hammond, Ponchatoula and New Roads.
Fazekas said local produce is bought fresh, whereas items from far away are refrigerated for transportation and can lose freshness and even some nutritional content before the time of purchase. Iverstine’s farm, for example, uses a multi-species, rotational grazing system, which allows for a cleaner, more natural product.
“The cows go in and graze the grass down, and then the chickens come behind them and fertilize and sanitize the pasture behind them, too,” he explained. “They eat any parasites that would attack our cows. That allows us to eliminate the usage of any chemicals, wormers or fly sprays or anything like that.”
Iverstine, Fazekas and Glaser each said they’ve noticed a growing support and demand for local produce over the course of their work. A 2010 USDA grant to promote healthy eating for low-income families now allows buyers to use food stamps at these events, and Fazekas said farmers markets generally offer competitive prices with exception to some specialty items.
In addition, the markets have seen more restaurants buying their items since BREADA began allowing buyers to purchase tokens, which are used to buy produce. This allows restaurants to pay with credit cards or checks and receive receipts on their buys. Glaser noted Louisiana restaurants and chefs, such as Juban’s restaurant and John Folse, who have purchased from the market.
However, with a higher demand, farmers are ultimately asked for more participation in these markets, but this often requires too much time away from their own farms.
“The growing demand is a good thing, but at the same time, we’re kind of getting a catch-22 — we don’t have enough farmers,” Fazekas said.
He said these events attempt to convey the idea that farming is a practical source of sustainability and income.
“What we really need is more farmers,” Fazekas said. “That’s what we’re trying to do is help [farmers] sustain themselves and help people realize that, by coming to a market, you can be a small farmer and make a living out of it.”
