3 Things You Can't Expect From Your Local Farmer

The fact that more people than ever are interested in knowing where their food comes from and how it is produced represents a significant shift in consumer consciousness. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently noted in its 2010 National Farmers' Market Directory, the number of farmers' markets in America grew by 16 percent this year. Never before has purchasing food been as much about showcasing values as it is about about simply feeding oneself.

However, as the movement to re-identify with our food has grown, so have unrealistic expectations of the local farmers that have enabled such a large growth in the amount of direct market consumption.

There are a lot of things that I believe you can reasonably expect from people you buy your food from — most of all that they are honest and forthcoming in describing their production practices. But when perusing your local market this weekend during National Farmers' Market Week, here are three things you shouldn't expect from your farmer:

1) You can't expect your farmer to avoid all agri-business products

Now, I'm not saying that it's impossible, but to expect that any farmer can completely escape the grasp of agri-business is simply unreasonable. Consolidation within the industry has resulted in a few large companies controlling nearly all of the essential inputs (seed and feed, for example) used by farmers across the nation. Consider this: Monsanto's Roundup Ready seed line was in 93 percent of the soybeans and 82 percent of the corn planted in the U.S. last year. With that in mind, is it really reasonable to expect that any livestock farmer — regardless of how humane or sustainable their operation is — can escape using at least some Monsanto soy or corn in their animal feed?

2) You can't expect your farmer to have a good answer to the question, "Why is this so expensive?"

Decades of supermarket shopping experiences have left consumers with the expectation that all food (whether it be meat, cheese, vegetables, etc.) should be cheap and available all the time. As a country, we now spend less money per household on food than we ever have before, citing a lack of appreciation for the hard work farmers put in to get food from field to plate. When farmers take the time to grow food organically or raise their animals out on pasture, it results in a higher-quality product that is indeed more expensive than what you'll find in the supermarket. But in the end, if you'll spend an ungodly amount of money on a pair of designer shoes or a brand new iPhone 4, why wouldn't you be willing to pay for the same quality in your food?

3) You can't expect your farmer to be certified-organic

The farm that ran the CSA I was a part of in Washington, D.C. recently dropped their organic certification after 18 years, citing the excessive cost of maintaining their organic status. We have a system that makes it not only time consuming (lots of paperwork), but also expensive to prove that you are using organic production practices. The sustainable food movement is not about putting labels on everything we buy. It's about re-localizing our food system in order to create stronger bonds between consumer and farmer. My point is that just because a farm is not certified-organic, it doesn't mean they aren't growing their products without the use of chemicals or antibiotics. To find out for sure, all you need to do is ask.

Photo credit: Damian Kettlewell