Setting out the stall for fresh and local again

A new breed was born in the mid-1990s when the first UK farmers’ market set out its stall in Bath to provide what they had grown, reared, caught, brewed or pickled locally. Farmers were back dealing direct with customers.

Public sympathy for the plight of farmers following foot and mouth disease in 2001, and an increasing interest in “food miles” and traceability helped establish farmers’ markets as a part of the retail scene.

But it seems that now they need to persuade a new set of younger customers to spend their money here.

John Piercy of Huby, near Easingwold has his finger on the markets’ pulse. He attended the first Yorkshire-based farmers’ market, held at York Livestock Centre in 2000 and is now involved in 13 markets as far afield as Guisborough, Selby and Otley, where he takes his trailer which he has built into his own stand.

“We have a lot of regular customers but many of them were in their 60s and 70s when we first started and a number of them have now passed on,” says John.

“The problem is that many of the next generation have been brought up purely on supermarket food.

“We do get quite a number of younger people coming, but they come to us by chance. When they do come across us we make a point of putting out tasters to convince them of the food.

“Once they have been they invariably come back. There’s a world of a difference between supermarket food and our food.

“Supermarkets base their selling point on lean meat. But to me, lean meat is dry. We use nothing but female animals, all gilts, which is a softer meat.”

In recent times Wetherby Farmers’ Market has been reported, by their markets committee chairman Councillor John Wardley, as not doing as well as it used to.

It’s one of John’s 13 and he believes it still has its place. “People knock Wetherby, but as well as being one of the best locations, we also do well there.

“If a council runs the market they then have to pay staff to put up stalls and take them down again. That way I think they’re on a loser.

“We have markets in smaller places like Boston Spa and Easingwold. Boston Spa has even written-off our rents and let us go there for free because they are so pleased to have a market in their village.”

That doesn’t mean that markets work well everywhere. “We tried Boroughbridge. You do find that you drop the odd one that doesn’t suit your product, but I think that in a few years’ time there will be another push forward.”

Around the time when farmers’ markets started there was also a push for organic food. John feels that is secondary in people’s minds.

“First and foremost people want to buy fresh food. Fresh is first. Organic comes after that. Some people will spend a lot of time turning the bacon over from side to side. I had one feller, he must have been in his 70s, at York. He must have turned this bacon over for 10 minutes before he bought it. I just said to his partner, ‘How long did it take him to propose to you?’ She said: ‘We aren’t married.. yet.’

“Each farmers’ market is a 12-hour day, leaving home at 6am. You do get wet days. If you do, then Otley is the best place because the customers are very loyal.”

John was at Harrogate Farmer Market which was bustling on Thursday this week. Allan Robinson, market manager, ensures that it retains its local, rural roots. “We specify that stalls must have done something with a product,” he says. “Either they have made it, converted it or done something to it that makes it home-produced.

“We’re at our maximum capacity today with 37 stalls. Harrogate can cope with being a weekday market because it is in the main shopping area.”

Raymond Worsdale, a beef farmer from near Bedale, was here as one of the 15 markets where he sets up stall every month. As well as his beef, there’s biscuits, scones and buns, baked every day. “We diversified out of dairy cows and chose baking. I do my turn,” he says. “Harrogate is very good. I look forward to coming here every month.’

Vicky Thompson, who was buying from Raymond’s stall, said “We come every month, getting things for the kids and also Christmas stocking fillers. I’ve bought biscuits and bath things so far. We’ll then go and have some breakfast and come back to buy meat and cheeses.”

Colin Stewart says he always visits John Piercy’s stall. “It’s the bacon I come for. I’ve been coming here since the market started.”

Ann Harwood was buying vegetables from the stall of Henry Johnson who travels from Flixton, near Scarborough. Ann said, “I’d rather buy local produce than buy from a supermarket.”

John Piercy has gradually scaled down his farm as his market business has grown. “I wish I’d done it sooner. There has always been a little conflict between butcher and farmer, but now I wish I’d been a butcher.”

How farmers’ markets came to UK

One of the first farmers’ markets was in the mid-1930s in California when 18 farmers parked trucks on vacant land to sell fresh produce to local shoppers. Bath Farmers’ Market (BFM) was the first in the UK in September 1997. Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES) had agreed to encourage the production and consumption of local food. The National Association of Farmers’ Markets was set up in 1999 and four years later joined forces with the Farm Retail Association to form Farma, the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association.