Farmers' Markets Protest Safeway Look-Alikes

- by Amy Radil
KUOW News
7/01/2010

'Farmers markets are hot right now — so hot that big supermarkets want in on the act. But attempts by local Safeway stores to host so–called farmers markets have created an uproar.'

"Martha Tyler says she was driving past a Safeway store in Kirkland recently, when she noticed a large banner. It promoted a farmers market at the store that weekend. Tyler knows many local farmers since she runs the Redmond Saturday Market, so she went in to ask the Safeway manager for details.

Tyler: "And the manager told me that they were going to be setting up tents and selling Safeway produce by Safeway employees farmers–market style."

For Tyler, and many others, that concept violates the definition of a farmers market, in which farmers sell locally grown produce directly to customers.

Tyler: "If they're going to call it a farmers market, yeah, first you need some farmers!"

Tyler alerted other local farmers market organizers, who responded quickly and loudly. Chris Curtis heads Seattle's Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance. She says it's no surprise that retailers want to capitalize on the idyllic image of farmers markets presented in food magazines and on TV.

Curtis: "Farmers' markets are ubiquitous and certainly they're part of the summertime shopping experience. Certainly the words local and fresh are used over and over and over again. So if you're a large retailer you want to tap into that. So it doesn't surprise me that they would co–opt it."

The Washington State Farmers Market Association wrote a letter to Safeway, noting that state law defines farmers' markets as including five or more growers selling directly to consumers. The group said markets are intended to foster connections between farmers and their customers.

Association officials say Safeway executives responded quickly, offering to drop the term farmers market in favor of something like weekend outdoor market. Officials at Safeway referred calls to a spokeswoman who was not immediately available.

Farmers market advocates say they're very pleased with Safeway's name change. But market organizer Martha Tyler says she wishes all retailers would actually buy more from local farms, so the good vibe from farmers markets could be more of a supermarket reality"

- Amy Radil, KUOW News