Farmers markets, local food systems and the social economy

The purpose of this report is to explore the FM literature and examine a number of themes and questions that pertain to the role of farmers markets in furthering the development of the social economy and local food systems. [...] In their myriad of forms and occupying a vast range on the spectrum between small/local and large/global, these models share the common goal of reducing the distance and anonymity that is central to the globalized food system by reconnecting agricultural activities to the social, economic and ecological wellbeing of a given community. [...] Section 1: From Street Markets to Farmer Markets “From the consumers point of view the local market was the cheapest, most popular and most convenient way of buying food not produced by the family in the garden or allotment or the pigsty in the backyard. [...] The growing number of retail shops met the daily requirements especially of the suburban household, and supplemented the markets in town […] It was not until the latter 6 half of the nineteenth century that the larger business unit in the wholesale and retail trades began to control a sizeable proportion of the trade in meat and vegetables” (Blackman, p. 97) The ‘market’ concept As McMillian write [...] UK markets Holloway and Kneafsey (2000) note that FM are a recent phenomena in the UK, with the first opening in Bath in 1997” They suggest that the name “Farmers’ Market” originated in the United States…but that the concept is little different to that of the 6,000 or so weekly markets in France.