Category: Farmers Market Report

SUPPLY VS. DEMAND: Supply and demand is an economical model based on price, utility, and quantity (available) in the market.  In a competitive market, the model predicts that price equalizes demanded quantities and quantities supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium between price and quantity.  Clearly this is in a perfect world… In today’s …

REALITY CHECK: Today, more than 6 billion people rely on food grown on merely 11 percent of the global land surface.  Only a scant 3 percent of the earth’s surface is inherently fertile soil.  Soil degradation and erosion are transforming productive land into wasteland at tragic speeds.  “The history of every nation”  President Franklin Roosevelt …

SUSTAIN: Although this word has become a popular term in the culinary landscape, it has been at the root of the counterculture of American living since agribusiness became the new face of agriculture in a 20th century modern world.  While  big business always has its “positive” effects, it also has dire effects and costs that …

WHEEL OF LIFE: “Good farmers use land according to its livelihood.  They are careful students of its natural vegetation, soil depth, structure, slope and drainage.  They are not appliers of generalizations, theoretical, methodical or mechanical.  Nor are they active agents of their own economical will, working their way upon an inert and passive mass.  They …

MOTHER NATURE: She has a way of reminding us who really is in charge.  Amid the conversations I have been having with the farmers this week, I got the clear impression that we are at Nature’s mercy.  Crops fail, field’s lose fertility, the heat forces herbs to flower and lettuces to get a sunburn.  While …

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY Farming is at the root of American cultural development and at its truest is a spiritual discipline and a significant provider of both rural and urban communities.  The farmers that provide us with the goods from their land exemplify just that.  For several decades our country emphasized big agribusiness which de-emphasized community and …

“Did you see any movie stars?!” This was the most popular question asked of me upon my return from the Santa Monica Farmers Market on Wednesday.  I replied with “No.  I was looking for produce.”  After touring the market, dozens of farmers and over 200 pictures later, I was dizzy with excitement and marvel over …

My First Official Farmers Market Report!! As a chef and a true food lover I get really giddy as spring sprouts beautiful nourishment from the earth. All across the state seeds have been sewn and the early birth of spring produce is being harvested. Strawberries are abound in many varieties: eat-from-the-basket fresh to perfect for …