UK Farm Focus: Farmers' Markets Set For Sustained Growth

LONDON (Dow Jones): 24 December 1999

Although most of the U.K.'s farm economy in late 1999 is stuck in a familiar rut of rock-bottom prices, slender margins, and declining incomes, one small corner of the agricultural sector is booming.

Farmers' markets, where farmers sell their produce directly to consumers in cities, didn't make their first real appearance in this country until June, but have already established themselves as one of the big farming success stories of the year.

The concept of the farmers' market, imported from the U.S., has been taken up enthusiastically in the U.K. Buying guaranteed fresh food direct from the producer appeals to U.K. consumers who, after successive food safety scares, no longer trust the food multinationals with their health.

Farmers, meanwhile, whose average incomes have fallen sharply for four consecutive years, are jumping at the chance to cut the U.K.'s increasingly aggressive retail buyers out of the equation. Some believe that farmers markets could eventually take on the role of an alternative food supply chain, taking market share away from the supermarkets.

No Foodie Fad

Although there's still some way to go, that may be no idle dream. The organisers of the 3 weekly markets initially set up in central London in June plan to open another 12 in the new year. There are plans to open others in towns and cities up and down the U.K.

"I'm confident that this is no foodie fad," said Nina Planck, the organiser of the first three markets in London's Islington, Notting Hill, and Finchley Road. "We see a whole range of customers every week."

Drawing on her wide experience of farmers' markets in the U.S., where they have become a routine shopping venue and a multi-million dollar industry, Planck believes that there is plenty of untapped potential in the U.K. too.

"Basically, any high street could support a farmers' market. There are two dozen a week in New York city. In 1980, there were none in Washington D.C., a city of 3 million people, but there are about 30 now. London, with a population of 7 million, could do the same," she said.

Farmers' market stallholders aren't required to produce to organic standards, although many in fact do. However, they may sell only what they grow, and must be based within a certain radius of the market. Although the emphasis is on fresh unprocessed foods, all farmers' markets in the U.K. also offer items such as meats, cheeses, bread, wine, and fruit juice.

Planck adds that she has had a better response from producers of value-added products in the U.K. than in the U.S., where fruit and vegetables form the mainstay of most markets. She suggests that this is due to U.K. farmers' eagerness to reverse the bad fortune of the last few years. "I personally know several farmers who have doubled and trebled their
incomes since taking this up. I'm impressed with how entrepreneurial they are," she said.

David Deme, who farms 90 acres of fruit in Kent, agrees there's been a "vast improvement" in his revenues since he began supplying the London farmers' markets in June. The markets in well-heeled Islington, Notting Hill and Finchley Road have given him access to a clientele that "appreciates fresh food, and is willing to spend money."

He adds that the farmers' markets came at a time when price wars in the highly competitive U.K. food retail sector have made supplying supermarkets an unattractive proposition. However, he cautions that while there's money to be made, it doesn't come easy.

"We take reasonable money, but you can't lose sight of the fact that it's very hard work. There's a lot of driving, a lot of very late nights," he said.

Lack Of Processing Equipment An Obstacle

Although the farmers markets look set for a period of continued growth into the new year, one potential obstacle is that many farmers can't offer any easily saleable goods. Laurence Matthews, who grows wheat and raises cattle on 1,000 acres in Surrey, says that this is preventing many farmers from taking part.

"There are many, many farmers who would love to get in on it, but they don't have access to processing equipment. At the moment, unless you make a product that's instantly saleable, you're excluded," he said.

He argued that farmers should pool their resources at local level, possibly with help from the local authorities, in order to make processing equipment more readily available.

-By Myles Neligan; 44-171-842-9359;
myles.neligan@dowjones.com