¡Join the fight!
Mill City Farmers Market: Review and Slideshow
Yesterday, I took my camera through Minneapolis's Mill City Farmers Market and posted about it live on Twitter. You can take the pic-tour yourself on Twitgoo -- just hit "prev" on the slideshow navigation feature under "More from Fair Food Fight," and you can flip through my pictures in the order they were taken. (I'm not sure why you have to hit "previous" to go forward. C'est la vie.)
Mill City is a really nice farmers market. Half of it is roofed, which is great for inclimate weather, and half of it is outdoors, which is great for summertime browsing. The product selection is good, too -- one can actually grocery shop here: In the General Store you can get staple items like Castle Rock Organic Milk, beef, chicken, etc. Plus, thre are enough artisan stalls to make the market feel special, unique.
One thing to note, Mill City is located in the old mill section of town, a region that remained undeveloped after the collapse of the flour and milling industry in Minnesota. In the last few years, however, Minneapolis has prioritized rejuvenating this part of downtown, and I couldn't be happier (Minneapolis is notoriously cruel to its own history, bulldozing gorgeous old buildings to make way for malls and crap development that will look like a joke in a decade). Mill City Museum is a must see if you're in town and have an antennae for history, and the walk along the Mississippi River and over the beautiful Stone Arch Bridge (an old railroad bridge retooled for foot and bike traffic) is a great way to get a feel for Minneapolis.
Sadly, this preciousness is not great for Mill City Farmers Market, in my opinion. The market feels like a tourist stop, and it obviously is, with few people really loading up on food. Lots of convention-goers and suburban sightseers, which is awesome, but I saw few people walking out of the market with arms full of food. The prepared food stalls were doing great businesss, with long lines for momos, coffee, and crab sandwiches, but the farmers seemed all too accessible to me. That's just an impression from watching the crowd, I may be entirely wrong (hope I am for the farmers' sakes). After I took pics, I tried to buy a market bag with the MCFM logo and do my own shopping, but they'd sold out. And yet, so few big shoppers? I guess tourists bought up all the market bags as mementoes.
Which is really too bad, since the other strong attribute of this market is the high number of organic and sustainable farms selling here, and the complete absence of people reselling wholesale food (you'll see Minnesota "farmers" selling Dole pineapples at other markets). You have to actually be a farmer or primary producer to sell at Mill City Farmers Market, so this is a terrific market to meet the people who grow clean, quality, local food.
El Dragón
Comments
one problem with mill city is
one problem with mill city is the myriad of immediately consumable foods that burns through customers cash cutting back what produce they might buy to take home.
while producers who sell consumable food should be given priority I'd like to see them cut back on the other prepared food to give more leeway for producers to sell.
great market though and wonderful venue and my comments should not be considered a slam
at the "pineapple" market the number of consumable foods is much much less per farmer. oh and by the way the Mpls City Council in the 1970's authorized the admittance of the resellers when for lack of interest the mpls farmers market almost closed for good. if you spend any time there you also see that many lower income folks hauling huge bags of food from that market some of it is resold produce ands some if not. I'm not sure we need to change that Lyndale market into a Mill City. Diversity is the richness of life and of Mpls - there is room for both markets which have different identities.
Mill City vs. Bigger Farmers Markets
Excellent points and thanks for the historical perspective on Minneapolis market policy. I didn't know that about admitting resellers to save the market in the '70's.
I certainly don't advocate changing the big-city, pineapple market to make it more like Mill City. But I will say that, for new shoppers just coming to farmers markets for the first time in this Michael Pollan Era, Mill City may meet their expecations more readily. The selection at the bigger markets, however, certainly can't be beat. There's something for everybody in the Twin Cities farmers markets.
I'm hoping to live tweet a visit to the Minneapolis Farmers Market this month, too. Ditto St. Paul, and a few of the co-ops. Stay tuned and thanks for coming by, anonymous.
circuitous route from grower - to wedge - to mpls farmers market
interestingly enough my girlfriend bought an organic cantaloupe at the Wedge recently with a red band of tape on the outside. the following weekend that same organic cantaloupe was being sold at the mpls market for $2.00.
hows that affordable organic for lower income or what?
should we be concerned about this or is this a public service? where would have that cantaloupe gone if not the market ? the landfill? foodshelf? I wish I new....but I think our food system is more intertwined than we realize...
don't look a gift cantaloupe in the mouth
That's a tough one. Those organic cantaloupes are sold all over town, but I'd guess the farmers marketeer probably got them from Alberts or J&J Distributors, two of the bigger, independent wholesalers in Minneapolis. I dunno, they might sell small orders "off the truck" to farmers marketeers. But even that's not a guarantee, since so many wholesalers are moving into organic foods. (The Wedge, meanwhile, gets nearly all its organic produce from its own wholesaler, Co-op Partners Warehouse -- I strongly doubt CPW sells to individual Mpls Farmers Market sellers, though I could be wrong.)
My question would be, how long will wholesalers willingly sell premium organic products that undercut their retail clients so dramatically at the ever-more popular farmers market. $2 for an organic 'lope? That's almost criminal.
my guess is it was near end of life
so its a fire sale lope. some but not all of the produce at the resellers is cut rate 2nd tier.
again not sure that this is a problem. better to be sold then composted? better that end of life produce ends up on a table.
i doubt many brick and mortar stores will take end of life produce - that f. market may be doing an important service. i'm open to other viewpoints....though
Canteloupe tonight (dad has the car)
I'm kind of a purist, myself, but, no, I don't think I really have a problem with reselling produce at a farmers market, either. And in an economy where produce firesales are probably frequent, the farmers market that re-sells near-death items serves a variety of purposes -- great deals for the consumer, blunting losses for the wholesaler, a way for a dude with hustle to make a quick buck, etc.
Me, I like the idea that farmers markets support the local economy, so as long they aren't firesaling anything that makes it harder for our farmers to make money, I'm down. Cantaloupes? Fine. Just don't sell them when the local musk melons come in.
Meanwhile, I do have a message out to Mpls Farmers Market to see if they can speak to the hows and who's and wherefores of reselling produce at their market. I'd like to know if there are any restrictions on sellers.
Minneapolis Farmers Market
Yes, we can speak to the hows and wherefores and do so happily.
First some context: The Minneapolis Farmers Market, established in 1876, is operated by the Central Minnesota Vegetable Growers Association. In other words, it is a Farmers Market operated by farmers. There are some 240 grower members. That may represent more rowers than any other market in town. There are five non-grower members, aka resellers. Five. And yes, there is a moratorium on additional resellers joining.
Our three red sheds are the remnant of 12; but by the 70's, there were so few local growers that the city was going to tear down the remaining three. It was the resellers who saved them. Without them, the farmers market would have disappeared.
The resellers served a purpose then and they serve a purpose now. We are in an under-served neighborhood. A neighborhood without food security. Without us, there would be no fruits or vegetables in this area. So by default, we are the green grocer for this neighborhood. And people want their bananas and pineapples and cherries. And they should be able to get them. At a good price. Regardless of their income.
Feel free to ask any more questions, here, at the market, of the growers, on our radio show August 8.
Post new comment