It’s farmers market season in Vermont.
And from Newport to Bennington, 58 markets are opening up for business this year.
But while the state’s markets generally receive a lot of community support, there’s a growing concern over their future, as most do not own the land where they operate.
“Some of the major markets in Vermont that we all might think of as flagship markets have dealt with location instability in the past five or 10 years,” said Andrew Graham, manager of the Vermont Farmers Market Association. “And it has a huge impact on the market, which in turn has a huge impact on all of the small businesses that really comprise the market.”
Graham says overall Vermont’s farmers markets are doing great, but every year markets close for a variety of reasons. Over the past few years, both Waterbury and Bethel lost theirs.
Evolving land dynamics have brought a new dimension to the challenges of operating a market, according to Graham.
The housing crisis is putting pressure on land values. And while it might have worked 50 years ago to have a bunch of farmers set up in a parking lot, Graham says it will take more investment to ensure that farmers markets survive and thrive into the future.
“I think there’s a formalization coming to Vermont that hasn’t existed here in the past in some areas,” he said. “And people often think of markets as sort of informal institutions. And in many ways they have been."
Yes, we hoped that it would work out. I suppose one could call it blind faith.Jay Bailey, Brattleboro farmer
The Brattleboro Farmers’ Market, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer, is the only market in the state that owns the land where it operates.
Jay Bailey, co-owner of Fair Winds Farm in Brattleboro, was one of the farmers who helped organize the market back in the 1970s.
It took the group more than 20 years to raise the money, go through permitting, and wait for five different landowners who held the parcels to sell.
Bailey said it was a slow, sometimes frustrating process, but it paid off after all these years.
“I suppose one could call it blind faith,” Bailey said. “And to some degree, I guess farming is that way. I mean, you plant things not knowing whether it’s going to get fried by frost. You hope that it won’t. And sometimes you win that gamble and sometimes you lose it. But if you don’t have the faith to try it, then you’ve lost anyway.”
Some of the major markets in Vermont that we all might think of as flagship markets have dealt with location instability in the past five or ten years.Andrew Graham, Vermont Farmers' Market Association
About four years ago, Gov. Phil Scott’s administration put out a report on the future of Vermont agriculture, which recommended the state invest $400,000 to help some “flagship” markets secure a permanent location.
The state has not yet made such an investment, but some markets are beginning to think about how they can secure a site location.
Burlington’s market, which had a high-profile squabble with the city over its location a few years ago, recently started a nonprofit that will work to raise money for buying land.
And in Norwich, the market has a purchase and sale agreement on a piece of land across the street from where it’s now renting space.
Nica Mieloch-Blinn, who manages that market, says it’s important to make sure it has a secure home, especially in a part of Vermont where land costs are so high.
“There’s so much that’s wrapped in there beyond just a weekly farmers market,” said Mieloch-Blinn. “It’s this notion that if we aren’t leasing our property, and we have that forever security, we can kind of pass that forward to all of these folks, and primarily farmers, because it is a farmers market.”
