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On the heels of the USDA announcement that farmers markets are sprouting up at a swift pace comes a contrarian article in The New York Times suggesting that this phenomenal growth might represent too much of a good thing:

 Farmers in pockets of the country say the number of farmers’ markets has outstripped demand, a consequence of a clamor for markets that are closer to customers and communities that want multiple markets.

 Some farmers say small new markets have lured away loyal customers and cut into profits. Other farmers say they must add markets to their weekly rotation to earn the same money they did a few years ago, reducing their time in the field and adding employee hours.

Blogger Matt Yglesias — tempted to dismiss these farmers’ concerns — invokes Adam Smith to suggest that this is a case not of “supply outstripping demand” but of incumbent players wishing to reduce competition.

As someone who has recently lauded the growth of farmers markets as well as their job-creating potential, I’m certainly not inclined to assert that there are indeed too many of them. Yet there are issues worth exploring here. The prime complaint — that farmers find themselves spending too much time driving from market to market — suggests that some areas may be saturated with true farmers markets. One sign of this would be a spate of “counterfeit” farmers trying to get in to these new markets, i.e. resellers offering wholesale produce as their own. A dead giveaway is typically farm stands featuring out-of-season vegetables and tropical fruits.