Two-sides of every coin

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/us/21farmers.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw

In this Times article, there is some frustration from farmers over the quick increase of farmer's markets in the last couple years. At first while reading this I was a little shocked, isn't that a good thing...more people choosing to buy their vegetables fresh from local farms rather than from giant corporate supermarkets that ship them from all over?

Then I started thinking about it from an economic point of view, and their grief makes sense. So many people are buying from a large number of markets that no one or two farms can capitalize on the demand and make any money. The demand is there but it is so spread out over the market that the money is not able to support the production and farms themselves are loosing money while the markets are able to stay afloat. So should there be less farmer's markets? For the time being, I think that might be a good idea. It is the classic case of too much of a good thing, the economy is not structured to handle such a quick boom in demand.

However, a number written in this article also showed an increase in the number of farms in the US. This is something to celebrate. As far as susatainabiliy of the planet, our economy, and our health goes we need more farms and more farmers. Our country is starving (literally) for healthy food that does not need gallons of oil to transport and our communities need to be able to support themselves and not depend on giants like Cisco for our basic needs. So what I think this article represents is a clear request from the people of the United States for our government to start subsidizing these smaller farms that produce for the local boom farmer's markets. I know that right now our country is in a bit of trouble financially and now might not be the right time; but I do think this is the direction we need to go in.

Now I am clearly writing all this with a bias because I love farmer's markets and I love fresh food. I am most definitely not an economist so maybe someone with that background could give me some better strategies or respond to the article more intelligently. But I do like that these issues are receiving press and people are at least thinking about them. I just hope we can find a way to bring fresh vegetables to people without hurting the farms that grow them.