Market Produce Really Isn't More Costly

• Chapel Hill Herald (NC)-October 27, 2007
• Author: BERNADETTE PELISSIER Columnist

Recently, while out walking with friends, we discussed local food issues and the support of farmers' markets. One friend stated that while she likes the farmers' market, she thinks that most people can't afford to go there because the products are more expensive than in the supermarkets.

I stopped to think for a few moments. I had never actually calculated costs simply because I have, for many years, felt that the local community should support the farmers' market.

I had been buying produce there for years and more recently been purchasing meats. I was pretty sure that many of the meats were more expensive than in the big chain grocery stores such as Harris Teeter.

However, in thinking about produce, I didn't perceive it to be more expensive.

I set about to check out these assumptions about the cost of farmers' market products. I decided to look solely at produce. The situation for meat presents a very complicated story.

I went to the Saturday Carrboro farmers' market and looked at the prices for the seasonal produce being sold.

I also went to Harris Teeter and Food Lion. I added in Whole Foods because they sell many organic products.

I looked at the price for eight seasonal vegetables: eggplant, tomatoes, butternut squash, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, collards, yellow squash and Bibb lettuce. I also added in an herb, basil.

What did I find?

Harris Teeter and Food Lion had five items that were cheaper than those of the farmers' market. Whole Foods had no items that were cheaper. In addition, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods each had one additional item of almost identical price, whereas Food Lion had two items of almost identical price. The conclusion was not clear.

But there are details which add complexity. The Bibb lettuce at Harris Teeter was 30 cents cheaper ($1.79) than at the farmers' market ($2). However, the lettuce at Harris Teeter was waterlogged. It is the type of lettuce that rots easily if not used within a day or two. The lettuce from the farmers' market was dry and did not have any wilted leaves. You could probably wait until midweek or later and still use it.

If you don't want to shop often, aren't you better off buying produce that gives you more flexibility in time from purchase to actual use?

What about eggplant? It was cheapest at Food Lion at $1.39 lb. The eggplant didn't feel old; it was firm. The eggplant at Harris Teeter was 10 cents more per pound ($1.49) but had a lot of brown spots. It was mushy feeling and looked old and worn. The cheapest eggplant at the farmers' market was $1.60 lb. The eggplant had bright shiny skin and felt firm to the touch, clearly freshly picked. The eggplant at Whole Foods was even higher in price and ranged from $1.99 lb. for conventionally raised eggplant to $2.49 for organic.

Tomatoes were cheaper at Food Lion: $2.29 lb. Next most expensive were the tomatoes at the farmers' market at $2.50 lb. But at the farmers' market there were also "ugly" tomatoes for $1.35 lb. The tomatoes at Harris Teeter were even more expensive at $2.79 lb. The most expensive were at Whole Foods at $3.49 lb for organic tomatoes from California. The cheaper tomatoes at Food Lion looked to be the kind with the mealy texture and no flavor, unlike the tomatoes at the farmers' market which are clearly vine-ripened, juicier and had the taste of a tomato.

The farmers' market basil was the one item cheaper than that sold at the three grocery stores. Its cost was $1.25 a bunch as compared with supermarket prices ranging from $1.49 to $1.99 for a small packet in a plastic container.

Price alone doesn't say it all here either. The farmers' market bunch was bigger than that in the grocery store plastic container and fresher looking. Have you ever bought basil in a plastic container at the grocery store only to find the bottom leaves already rotting?

Ostensibly, the bunch of collard greens was cheapest at Harris Teeter at $1.79. It was 21 cents more expensive at the farmers' market.

But, having looked at the size of the bunch, it was bigger at the farmers' market. So, I now reduce the number of items found to be cheaper at Harris Teeter to four rather than the original five.

All in all, farmers' market produce is not cheaper for all produce, but it is of equal or lower price to many similar items in the grocery store.

When adding in quality and freshness and the fact that most of the produce is organically grown, the cost of farmers' market produce looks even better.

Bernadette Pelissier is a retired social scientist who lives in Orange County and serves on several community boards. Readers can contact her at bpelissier@juno.com or c/o The Chapel Hill Herald, 106 Mallette St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516.