The Consumers Dilemma Solved

     The Athens Farmers Market. If you have ever visited or shopped at this incredible bazaar of fresh and local produce, I encourage you to read on. If you haven't, then I urge you to read on.  Farmers markets can sometimes have this stigma of being an overpriced hassle, as opposed to the rewarding delicious experience it truly is. This is a frustrating idea to myself and others who know all of the benefits of farmers markets.
    To put it into perspective, local farmers bring their goods to a specific place so that they can sell them directly to consumers. On the corporate side, places such as Wal-Mart, purchase produce from a third party across the country then proceed to ship it a few thousand miles, creating the need for preservatives and dyes in order to keep produce pretty after the long trek.  Corporate produce, after being primped for sale, is then purchased by consumers at a low price thousands of miles from where it originated. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but once you start looking into everything that goes into this process (i.e. fuel, pollution, preservatives, pesticides, etc.) it becomes exhausting and worrisome.
     Corporations that sell produce are able to conceal most of the negative ins and outs of their sales process from the public, and conceal they do.  Many consumers already know that they are purchasing veggies grown in California or other far away places, but what they don't realize up front are the negative economical and environmental impacts attached to this process of retail.  Corporations have, in a way, created our society into one that has fallen into a routine of purchase that no longer involves the people who actually produce the goods. We have somehow forgotten the importance of knowing what exactly goes into what we consume and how important the people that actually produce it are, especially those who feed us.  This disconnect has formed over time because we are continually told what we need and where we need to get it.  This has allowed us to forget the responsibility and luxury of choice we have as consumers. We do have a choice though, and we should make sustainable ones whenever and wherever we can.  This can start with the choice that directly effects ourselves and the environment around us; where and why we purchase the food we consume.
     Consumers hold the power in a free market and it seems we have lost hold of this concept and have fallen victim to cheap, mass produced goods without giving their quality or impacts a thought.  We need to buy our food from as close to its source as we can because it stimulates the local economy, and provides consumers with a feeling of ease that their vegetables have not been dyed or injected with anything to feign freshness after a 2,000 mile truck ride.  These are factors consumers must take into account if they are concerned about environmental consequences or want to break free from the headlock corporations have us in.  But usually when discussing grocery shopping, many people, especially college students, are concerned about the economics of it. A large concern of many consumers is that farmers markets are far more expensive than your typical grocery store, or Wal-Mart per se. I would really like to rid farmers markets of this stigma, and if that's what is holding you back from shopping locally, fear no more.

     I did a bit of research and price comparing between the Athens Farmers Market and Wal-mart produce, and what I found even surprised me.  My results concluded that the farmers market is cheaper.  I was expecting their produce to be a tad more expensive considering all of the work local farmers put into their crops, but interestingly enough it's not.  Here is a small chart of the produce I compared.

     Besides the economical and environmental benefits the farmers market has to offer, it is only a stone's throw away from all of the other grocery stores in town, so it isn't exactly a hassle to get there. It seems to me that consumers can't go wrong purchasing directly from our farmers, and we need to understand how lucky we are to have this resource and the ability to shop at a market that is so accessible and inexpensive. There are heaps of other reasons why you should support the farmers market, but I'll let you make your own conclusions about why it's important for you to support this aspect of our community, and maybe further your knowledge on the subject by doing some research of your own.  The bottom line is that the Athens Farmers Market is an invaluable resource that we need to take advantage of, and even if you aren't into living sustainably, humor us sustainability folks and at least shop there because it's less expensive.

           Stay sustainable,

           Becca in Athens