Sales at Canada's farmers' markets exceed $1 billion

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

© AgMedia Inc.

by SUSAN MANN

Farmers’ markets are a major source of revenue for growers who sell their products at them, according the 2009 National Farmers’ Market Impact Study released recently.

Forty-seven per cent of Ontario vendors say more than half of their total farm income comes from farmers’ market sales, it says in the survey unveiled by Farmers’ Markets Canada/Farmers’ Markets’ Ontario at their annual meeting this month in St. Catharines.

The Ontario figure is slightly higher than the national figure of 42 per cent of vendors reporting more than half of their income from market sales. This is the first time the importance of market sales in farm incomes was included in the survey so comparison data isn’t available.

Bob Chorney, executive director of Farmers’ Markets Ontario and president of Farmers’ Markets Canada, says it’s the first year for the national survey. Studies of Ontario’s markets have been done every three to four years since 1998 so “we know where we stand.”

Funded by Agriculture Canada, the study found that the markets play a key role in selling agricultural products with estimated national sales of $1.03 billion and Ontario sales of $641 million.

Markets in every province participated in the survey, which looked at 508 of them. Other findings are:

• More farmer vendors are needed at farmers’ markets due to a growing demand for markets;
• Ontario shoppers spent an average of $27.66 per visit, while nationally the figure was $32 per visit;
• 67 per cent of Ontario shoppers say buying directly from a local farmer is extremely important;
• Produce is the main reason people go to farmers’ markets; and

The gap between male and female shoppers is widening with 72 per cent female and 28 per cent male in the 2009 study compared to 65 per cent female and 35 per cent male in previous studies.

There has been a “bit of a drop off in male shoppers,” Chorney says. “I’m not sure how significant that is but nevertheless that’s a change (from previous surveys).”

Fledgling organization, Farmers’ Markets Canada (FMC), received $356,000 from the federal government to help fund the study, do a website and logo, hire an interim executive director and help pay for the conference. That money runs out March 31. FMC is now negotiating with government for ongoing funding, says Chorney, who’s working as a volunteer for FMC. BF