Many vendors who sell at farmers’ markets saw a huge boost in sales last year, even as markets themselves struggled with the higher overhead costs of pandemic safety measures. This season, the growing threat of the Delta variant looms over a market experience that was nearly back to normal, say market managers and advocates.
“It was exhausting” to make sure shoppers and vendors complied with masking requirements last season, says Emily Young, coordinator of the Edmond Farmers Market near Oklahoma City. “And unfortunately, I’m afraid it’s about to get exhausting again.”
When the pandemic began last March, farmers’ market managers rushed to convince policymakers that markets should be counted as essential businesses. Even once they were able to operate, many markets hosted fewer vendors to accommodate social distancing or because sellers feared exposure to Covid-19, which meant less income from stall fees.
“Most markets took a pretty significant hit this past year,” says Ben Feldman, executive director of the Farmers’ Market Coalition (FMC). A survey conducted by FMC found that 61 percent of markets took in less revenue last summer compared to previous years. “There are going to be some markets that closed and will never reopen or were able to limp through, but won’t have those financial reserves,” he says.
To cover their financial losses, markets have turned to fundraising, local and state funding sources like agriculture departments, and federal aid. Initially, many markets were excluded from the Payroll Protection Program because of eligibility issues, but that was resolved in March.
The pandemic’s greatest strain was felt by market managers, who had to enforce masking policies, manage new crowd control measures and ensure vendors and staff had adequate personal protective equipment, all while providing a positive experience for communities worn down by months of isolation.
“[We] have seen a lot of burnout in the field,” says Feldman.
Lisa Misch, program manager at the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA), which works with 25 farmers’ markets around North Carolina, says that while turnover is a regular feature of market manager positions, the pandemic exacerbated it.
“It’s a strange dynamic for a farmers’ market to be a community space, but also a space [where] you need to protect the safety of the vendors and shoppers,” Misch says.
But last season was successful for vendors who sold at markets. Shoppers spent more of their budget on market produce, and many markets saw a particular boost in sales to shoppers receiving expanded federal benefits from the Pandemic-EBT program. Misch says one urban market in her network saw a 750-percent increase in the use of incentive programs like Fresh Bucks, which double the spending power of food-insecure shoppers.
“A lot of new family shoppers were taking advantage of the doubling,” Misch says. “Customer retention has continued this year. We’re still seeing pretty high, stable numbers.”
Data from the Department of Agriculture show that SNAP redemptions at farmers’ markets totaled more than $33 million last year, a nearly 45-percent increase from 2019.
“It was a huge boon,” says April Jones, manager of the Pinehurst Farmers Market in Columbia, South Carolina. “People are [now] used to the routine of shopping, and they like it because it’s outdoors, you can socially distance. People are really thriving on that.”
As the market season began this year, a sense of normalcy had returned to many markets. But with the rapid spread of the Delta variant, advocates are bracing for the potential return to early-pandemic safety precautions.
“I think it will be very difficult for mask compliance to come back at markets,” says Misch, citing the toll it took on market staff to enforce mask policies. “I don’t know if there would be appetite for managers to try for that again.”
Market staff and volunteers have had to navigate many months of competing community opinions on pandemic safety requirements, says Young. “If you didn’t require something, you made a group mad,” she says. “If you did require it, you made another group mad. We struggled with it.”
As the pandemic worsens again, policymakers should support the continuation of markets and their role as essential businesses, especially for lower-income and food-insecure shoppers, says Hannah Fuller, communications coordinator at FMC.
“If these markets have support from city governments and policymakers that want to keep farmers’ markets vibrant in their communities … then the markets will continue to serve as really valuable assets,” she says. “Markets have been a source of a little bit of normalcy in the pandemic for a lot of people.”
And preparing for another surge of the virus has also opened doors to deeper community-building, says Jones. “It’s been a great opportunity to come together in fellowship and talk about how we can make our community stronger and more resilient.”