BOISE — At the Boise Farmers Market, Chuck Guthrie stops by the Purple Sage Farms booth to peruse the greens and specialty vegetables, as he frequently does.

“The farther away I get from the farmer, the less trust I have,” he said.

Guthrie is among the legions of westerners who will forsake chain grocery stores each week in favor of the outdoor cornucopias that sprout on city streets and parking lots. As public demand for local food stays strong, farmers markets continue to thrive.

Nationwide, the number of farmers markets grew from just under 2,000 in 1994 to more than 8,600 registered in USDA’s Farmers Market Directory.

“‘Food from somewhere’ and the subcategory of local food are a significant, important part of Oregon’s agricultural portfolio,” said Larry Lev, a retired Oregon State University professor of applied economics. “Somewhere” implies that origin is important.

While farmers markets in the state face some big-picture challenges common to other enterprises — such as a percentage of participants disappearing due to relocation, aging or other reasons — the markets stay busy as “vendors and customers form a community that interacts every week during the market season,” he said.

The Oregon Farmers Markets Association tracks markets in more than 140 communities in the state, executive director Ashley Hess said. Annual surveying by the association shows increases in sales and attendance.

“We are seeing really great trends in small, rural markets opening back up or for the first time,” she said. Millersburg, Warm Springs, Burns and Bonanza this year saw the opening of farmers markets, “which support not only food access, but small business growth.”

Farmers markets in Oregon grew over the past 30 years as vendors and customers became more sophisticated, Lev said. The vendors “learned how to produce what customers would make an extra effort and pay an extra cost to buy,” while customers “became much more committed to buying high-quality, locally produced products only for sale in a specific place for a few hours each week.”

“Customers now come no matter what the weather is, and throughout the season — not just during the peak weeks,” he said. They seek a wide variety of products, including meat and dairy products. And vendors “have figured out how to extend the season for many products, and how to produce higher quality products.”

Oregon’s growth in the number of markets, vendors and customers over the three decades was rapid in the first 10-15 years and reached a point where the sector was a “well-established part of the food scene” in the state, Lev said. Although growth has come at the margins more recently, the state’s farmers market segment remains vibrant.

Oregon had about a dozen markets in 1987, said Rebecca Landis, who directs the Corvallis-Albany Farmers Markets and has been managing markets since 1995.

As the movement began growing nationally, she noticed TV portrayals of markets as a draw for people with substantial disposable income — not the case now.

Markets ‘for everybody’

“Farmers markets are for everybody,” Landis said.

Markets around the U.S. accept government nutrition benefits, the impact of which may be matched or otherwise multiplied by grant or other funding.

More than 90 Oregon farmers markets offer food-assistance matching programs, said Hess of OFMA. “The community wins, the shopper wins and the farmer wins.”

Farmers markets play a critical role in access to healthful foods, said Colleen Donovan, Washington State Farmers Market Association executive director.

Access programs last year provided more than $4.7 million in sales to farmers and food vendors in the state, she said. The programs helped more than 60,000 people buy fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthful foods. Separately, farmers markets donate to food banks.

Total reported sales at the 105 WSFMA member markets increased by 8.9% from 2022 to 2023, to more than $80.3 million, Donovan said.

“We have seen over the years more and more interest in, and more understanding of, supporting local food,” she said. Markets and communities also are working to attract more types of vendors.

COVID impact

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted experimentation, such as with technology that streamlined preorders for pick-up or delivery, Donovan said. The industry also found that people “really wanted to be back in the markets” in person.

Locally grown food caught on nationally in the late 1990s, and “people were starting to notice the value and utility,” Landis said. “And that caused more people and larger groups to pay attention to farmers markets.”

While not all newer attendees immediately become true believers who buy most of their fresh foods at farmers markets, more total participation benefits vendors and the community, she said. And “a dollar to a local farmer is spent locally.”

“There are a lot of ways people can sell local food,” said Ariel Agenbroad, a University of Idaho Extension community food systems and small farms educator who serves on the Idaho Farmers Market Association board. A farmers market “is one way to get in and learn about customers and wants.”

Someone could start a food business at home, advance it to a farmers market and subsequently open a standalone location, she said. An established farmer with other successful direct sales channels may maintain a market presence.

The future also brings concerns, however.

For example, the retirement of large-scale produce vendors who are not succeeded by people who supply equal volumes is a concern, Agenbroad said.

In the meantime, vendors appreciate the flexibility of selling at farmers markets.

“I can decide what I want to do and make it work for me,” said Deb Stansbery of Radix Farm and the Wenatchee Valley, Wash., Farmers Market.

Her farm is in its 10th year. A community supported agriculture subscription program and the farmers market produced roughly equal revenue the first four to five years. After decreasing farmers market sales to focus on diversifying the CSA, she added an employee this year — partly to increase farmers market sales “because we are able to grow more food,” she said.

In Boise, a farmer contingent of Capital City Public Market vendors a dozen years ago formed the Boise Farmers Market. Both are succeeding.

Eighty to 100 vendors participate in Capital City Public Market, depending on time of year, said board president Meaghan Goulder. The market, now in its 30th year, features arts and crafts and specialty, farm-fresh and ready-to-eat foods.

“Our customers are interested in buying local and supporting small businesses,” she said. “And they love to speak to the person who is producing the product.”

The first Boise Farmers Market season, 2013, featured 20-plus farmers and 30 to 40 total vendors, executive director Amber Beierle said. This year’s approved-vendor total is 121, up from 112 in 2023, “with the recognition that they come and go, either seasonally or with availability of product.”

Average weekly attendance for the first six weeks of the 2024 season was up by just over 20%, possibly helped by the weather, she said. The market plans its second relocation, based on its own needs and the growth of downtown.

While sales are not rising as quickly as attendance, “the emphasis is not just on people coming, but really sharing the values of the farmers market” such as sustainability, Beierle said.

Growing farmers

Global Gardens, a program of the Idaho Office of Refugees and nonprofit Jannus Inc., supports farm and garden entrepreneurship.

Participant Safiya Abdi, who was born in Somalia and grew up in a refugee camp in Kenya, moved to Boise in 2005 and started farming in 2010.

She has sold at Boise Farmers Market since its inception. The market generates most of her sales.

“I love getting to meet with people and I love having to socialize,” said Abdi, 38. She was scared at first, she said, but “the farmers market made me very strong.”

“A hello goes a long way,” said Idaho Farmers Market Association board president Melanie Gallup, who is also the Gooding Farmers Market manager and runs Gallup Family Farms. “I tell all my vendors that they can’t just sit like a bump on a log. Be eye-to-eye and genuine.”

“Salesmanship is the best way to put it,” said Paul Puhek of S&P Homestead Farm in Otis Orchards, Wash., a Liberty Lake Farmers Market founding member. “People come to the market and want to talk to the farmer, engage and talk about the product.”

“I couldn’t imagine not facing the public,” said Wilder Jones of the Wild Spaces Farm dairy and Kings Crown Organic Farm in southern Idaho. “I need to be there, meet the people and educate them.” He participates in the Boise and Ketchum markets.

Purple Sage Farms is a Boise Farmers Market founding member. As for generating business there, “our way that has been successful is to reach out to people and not let them walk by without saying hi,” Purple Sage production manager Mike Sommer said. “We are talking about food, really.”

At the Purple Sage booth, Guthrie, a regular customer, buys fresh salad mix and broccoli.

“I like to buy a high-quality product from people I know,” he said.