Buying Local & Organic: Farmers Markets Growing in Oregon

From <www.bendbulletin.com (Bend, Oregon) Buying organic

Published: July 29, 2005

Shoppers browse the produce at the Groundworks Organics booth at the Bend Farmers Market on Wednesday. Market attendance has grown to 1,000 to 2,000-plus visitors per week and vendors have grown from 17 four years ago to 32.

Anthony Dimaano / The Bulletin

By Cathy Carroll

Grace Kennedy's habit of buying much of her food at the Bend Farmers Market places her among an increasing number of Central Oregon shoppers with an appetite for organic produce.

As their purchases multiply, so do opportunities for organic farmers.

For Kennedy, buying freshly picked fruits and vegetables while listening to a guitarist and meeting friends beside the Deschutes River at Drake Park beats supermarkets' fluorescent lights and parking lots. The market, held every Wednesday from June through mid-October, reminds the Bend resident of markets in Europe.

"I come every week, either me or my husband," said Kennedy, 56. "It's fun and everything is so incredibly delicious. I like that it's locally grown in the state of Oregon and we're supporting farmers directly. You can't get food that fresh at the store - the taste is different."

The popularity of local farmers' markets reflects a national trend of increasing consumer demand for locally grown and organic foods.

It also presents untapped local business opportunities, according to local and state farm-industry sources.

Garry Stephenson, small-farms specialist with Oregon State University extension service in Corvallis, has studied farmers' markets since 1997. "Most of the organic food at the Bend Farmers Market is coming from the (Willamette) valley, so there is a tremendous business opportunity for growing organic food locally," he said. "Growth (in Bend) is huge and there is a resort-based economy and white-tablecloth restaurants - niche markets are just waiting for it."

The U.S. organic foods industry grew 20 percent in 2003 and accounted for nearly $10.4 billion in consumer sales, according to the Organic Trade Association, which represents North American organic industry members. Organic foods sales in 2003 represented about 2 percent of total U.S. food sales, up from 0.8 percent in 1997.

Organic foods sales have grown 17 percent to 21 percent each year since 1997, according to the association's 2004 manufacturer survey.

"It is clear that organic foods are making steady progress into the American mainstream, nearly tripling in sales since 1997," according to the survey. The popularity of organic food is visible in the growth of Central Oregon farmers' markets, Stephenson said.

"The number of farmers' markets in the state is booming," Stephenson said. "(Central Oregon) is experiencing a minor boom."

Madras and Redmond launched weekly farmers' markets in June.

A group in Sisters is planning to start a farmers' market next summer, said Katrina Wiest, market manager of the Bend Farmers Market.

Bend's market, in its eighth season, has seen its vendors increase to 32 from 17 four years ago, Wiest said. All sell food except one, who sells
candles. Most are from Central Oregon, but 12 travel from the valley.

Wiest tried for two years to convince Rainforest Mushrooms of Eddyville, Ore., to sell at the Bend market.

"They weren't sure they would make the trek, a 3 1/2-hour drive," she said. "This is their first year coming here and they say they're doing well. The only other market they do is in Beaverton, so I feel privileged."

The number of shoppers is increasing, too, she said.

Attendance ranges from 1,000 to 2,000-plus visitors each Wednesday, she estimated.

"Vendors are selling out even though we have more products than last year," Wiest said. "We are seeing more people coming out for it, and on some days it has been shoulder to shoulder."

The market, open from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Wednesday through Oct. 12 at Drake Park, can accommodate more vendors, she said.

Sarah Yancey, market manager of the Redmond Farmers' Market, said the market draws between four and 12 vendors every Tuesday. So far, farm vendors are from outside Central Oregon, but she expects some local purveyors next week. She is seeking more vendors and expects it will take a few years to match the Bend market's popularity.

Oregon has 68 farmers' markets, up from 24 in 1995, Stephenson said.

Farmers' markets are growing similarly across the United States, which has more than 3,000, Stephenson said.

Farmers' markets are major venues for organic produce, meat, fish and poultry, but that's not all they offer.

"What (the growth in farmers' markets) says is that people are interested in fresh, high-quality food grown locally, and enjoy the relationship of buying a product from a person who grew it," Stephenson said. "They like the atmosphere of an open-air market - an Old World atmosphere where they talk with friends instead of powering through the Safeway to get out as soon as they possibly can."

The demand for organic products is not being met by local suppliers, but it could be, he added. Most organic farms tend to be five to 30 acres of good, irrigated soil. They typically can't operate profitable, large-scale conventional farms.

"We're waiting for some of those (sized) parcels to maybe convert" from traditional to organic farming, Stephenson said.

Organic is a label that means growing is done in ways consistent with natural ecology. Organic food standards optimize the health and productivity of soil life, plants, animals and people, according to the Organic Trade Association's web site.

Oregon Tilth Inc., which certifies most of the organic farms statewide, has certified Fields Farm, a Bend vegetable grower on 7.5 acres; Country Vines, which grows cucumbers and tomatoes in greenhouses on 0.2 acres in Madras; San Francisco Herb and Natural Food, a 151.5-acre herb farm in Culver; and Mansfield Farm, a cider apple farm in Culver on 2.5 acres.

"In general, we're definitely getting more interest from Central and Eastern Oregon than in the past," said Thomas Goodwin, farm program coordinator for Oregon Tilth.

When John Stalley, Tilth's farm program reviewer and inspector, held an introductory seminar on organic farming certification last winter in Eastern Oregon, about 40 conventional farmers attended.

"We had a packed house; I was really surprised," Stalley said.

A likely factor: Wheat farming is marginally profitable, but organic wheat sells for a higher price, he said.

Converting from traditional to organic farming can be complex and challenging, which is where Oregon Tilth tries to help, Stalley said.

"It's kind of re-learning some of the things our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents knew - it's a lost art," he said.

Central Oregon has the additional challenges of a short growing season, a dry climate and water-rights issues.

Willamette Valley farmers, on the other hand, can bring produce to market earlier in the season.

Nevertheless, Central Oregon farms have the potential to tap the growing demand for organic foods, Stalley said.

Tilth's Goodwin credited Jim Fields of Fields Farm with pioneering organic farming in Central Oregon.

Fields says his business has grown steadily since he started it in 1989. Fields sells his produce at the Bend Farmers Market and through memberships that cost about $450 for 24 weeks of vegetables. The business was successful enough that he quit his part-time job assembling bicycles four years ago to farm full-time.

When he began, other farmers had their doubts.

"I used to joke that I wasn't smart enough to do anything else," Fields said. "Nobody does this commercially in a 90-day growing season.

New technology, such as the high-tech hothouses that Country Vines uses, helps make High Desert organic farming easier, he said.

Since Fields began farming the nearly 10 acres there, housing developments grew around it and the value of his land off Pettigrew Road soared. Fields plans to develop about 30 homes on six acres and farm the rest.

He plans to continue selling at the Bend Farmers Market, but will offer fewer memberships in the farm produce.

As Fields plans to reduce his farming, he's glad that another farmer, Tom Feldmann, is entering the market.

Feldmann, 41, began selling produce last year from Laughing Dog Farm, his organic farm on two of his 20 acres off Deschutes Market Road. He quit his job with Metolius Mountain Products after 18 years, sold his shares of the company and decided to be a farmer, he said.

Last year he sold to restaurants including The Blacksmith, Cork and Robby Js in Bend, and Sunriver Resort. The cache of locally grown, organic food is growing, he said.

This year he is selling produce at the Bend Farmers Market and sold 22 memberships of his produce. Memberships cost $450 for about 25 weeks of produce.

He expects the business to survive as long as he watches his expenses.

"It's what I do," he said "I don't go to the coast. This is my recreation as well as my livelihood."

He wants to build a third passive solar greenhouse and is confident the market for locally grown organic food is expanding.

"There is a growing awareness about how much diesel it takes to get the food to you," he said.

He has considered bringing his produce to the farmers market via bike and marketing it as requiring no gasoline to get the food to shoppers.

"The market forces are in our favor, the more gas goes up, the more food goes up - sometimes a lot," he said.

Cathy Carroll can be reached at 541-383-0304 or at ccarroll@bendbulletin.com