How to Become a Seller at Orange County Farmers’ Markets

When Eileen and Mark LaMorte began raising house plants and nursery stock in Anaheim 15 years ago, their greenhouses were surrounded by small, family-owned farms and chicken ranches. They sold their plants once a week at an open-air market conducted by local growers who harvested their produce at sunrise and sold it directly to consumers from the back of their truck.

Now the LaMortes’ greenhouses are surrounded by industrial buildings, and they are among the last Orange County-based sellers at the local farmers’ markets. Those selling next to them are mostly from Riverside and San Diego counties or the San Joaquin Valley, where there is still land available on which to grow crops.

But Mona Amoon, a co-manager of the state-sponsored Farmer’s Market in Fullerton, knows that plenty of people in Orange County are back-yard farmers who set aside a portion of their precious land for an herb garden, vegetable patch or a couple of fruit trees. She hopes the “back-yard people,” as she calls them, will join the ranks of sellers at the market and help it retain its neighborhood bazaar atmosphere.

Each week, several hundred buyers line up to choose from the market’s selection of home-grown fruits, vegetables, honey, eggs, nuts, flowers, herbs, house plants and even fresh fish. So if you have just a single fruit tree or a row of tomato vines, you can call yourself a farmer, sell your goods at the market, make some extra money and meet your neighbors too. But first, you must become certified.

Here’s how it’s done:

* Get an application form from the Orange County Agricultural Commission. The completed form will list your name, address, type of commodity grown and the amount of space devoted to production.

* Make an appointment with an Agricultural Commission inspector, who will visit your home to verify the crop is grown at the site listed on the form. A certificate will be issued, and you can then sell your goods at any of the farmers’ markets that the California Department of Food and Agriculture has established throughout the state. But there’s one potential problem: If you live in an area that has been quarantined to control the Mediterranean fruit fly, you may not be able to sell your produce until the ban has been lifted.

There are two farmers’ markets in Orange County: one in Fullerton and the other in Costa Mesa.

Sellers do not rent space at the markets, but are charged a percentage of their daily gross sales. The amount charged varies at each of the markets. Contact the individual market managers listed below for further information or call the CDFA Direct Marketing Program at 1-800-952-5272.

* Orange County Agricultural Commission: 1010 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim (714) 447-7100.

* Fullerton Farmer’s Market: Woodcrest Park, 450 W. Orangethorpe Ave. Contact: Mona Amoon (714) 535-5694 or Kae Thomas (714) 526-5814. Market hours: Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

* Costa Mesa Farmer’s Market: Orange County Fairgrounds, 88 Fair Drive. Contact: Frank Bowring (714) 635-1537 Market hours: Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Source: Orange County Agricultural Commission