Consumers win because they can purchase fresher vegetables at a lower cost than they could at the supermarket, said Mickie Swisher, an associate professor of sustainable agriculture with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The plus for farmers is that they can get better prices for their produce than they can when they sell through grocery stores, she said. Farmers' markets are a good way to do that. The markets, usually set up in a central location in the community, feature area farmers selling their bounty from tables or directly from the back of their pickup trucks. Swisher said the markets are a good option for operators of small farms that normally can't meet the needs of modern grocery stores.
Some grocery stores do buy some local produce, but it depends on the location and the store manager.
Since small farm owners generally are shut out of the larger markets, Swisher said, they are left trying to find new ways to get their products directly into the hands of the consumers. But another method of putting farmer and consumer together is beginning to gain in popularity. Called either community supported agriculture or subscription farming, the method allows families to pay farmers in advance for up to a year's worth of produce. The practice was first developed in Switzerland and Japan in the 1960s and was introduced in the United States in the 1980s. Our farm uses a system called community supported agriculture, which is a subscription-type agriculture where people can buy a year's worth of produce.