Insisting that the people selling in the markets be people who are producing their own crops, I feel, is a key to creating a healthy fair market place. The big question is whether farmers can work together. It is hard for a group of farmers to develop legislature that help make a fair and honest market place. A relatively small amount of businessmen and people who do not spend hours working in the fields have an advantage over those who work with their hands. It takes a large amount of organization and commitment for farmers to work together and pool their resources.
Farmers work long hard hours.
Another difficulty is that it is easier to make a living selling produce that others sold. There is always the temptation for farmers to turn into investors and betray the other farmers. When people sell others products within this cooperative structure they have an advantage of not having to compete against other investors but only other farmers. In California a Task Force has been meeting to try and determine how to insure the integrity of the Certified Farmers Market program. I feel that the only way this program can come to birth is if farmers learn to understand the necessity of working together.