Products Ripe for Picking

Farmer Joe Avitua brushes dust from the rough orange skins of tangerines he grew. He picks up each one in the bin, gives it a practiced swipe and places it in the front of the box--all the better to lure customers to his stall. His is one of many at the dozens of farmers’ markets that dot the Southern California landscape each week.

With citrus piled high, fresh eggs, radishes and honey, home-cured pickles, Oriental vegetables, mounds of artichokes and fresh-picked strawberries, the markets are a feast for the senses.

There are 13 in Orange County that satisfy the criteria to be a certified farmers’ market--that is, markets where farmers sell the food they grow.

The number of farmers’ markets in California is nudging toward 300, where less than 20 years ago there were only four. And while California is the runaway leader, it is only one of many places in the nation where farmers’ markets are thriving.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are more than 2,400 farmers’ markets around the country, with more springing up. Department officials say there are surely many more in operation that have not been tabulated, simply because there is no central clearinghouse to track such businesses.

They have become such a phenomenon in recent years that the Agriculture Department began printing a thick national directory of farmers’ markets in 1994, adding 750 to last year’s edition.

In many cases the markets have been used as a way to prime the pump for communities in need of an economic fix. The proven logic is that markets attract people, which, in turn, helps other businesses in the vicinity.

So many markets now operate that some farmers gripe about the glut. They say the increasing numbers have thinned the customer base at older, established markets, forcing them to set up shop in more places to turn a profit.

Still, their popularity continues to grow, both in parking lots and in cyberspace. There are more than 200 farmers’ market sites on the Internet where fruit and vegetable prices are listed.

What is drawing people to the stalls of these markets rather than the convenience of neighborhood supermarket aisles? The freshness of the food and the aromas filling the air are often cited. Beyond that, attending the market it is a form of urban recreation in which city dwellers get a chance to mix with farmers, to talk about crops and seasons and haggle over the prices.

There exists in these markets a kind of unhurried pace and feeling of community that are all-too-difficult to find in these hectic times.

For thousands of years, the marketplace was the heart of cultures around the globe, from ancient Greece to medieval Europe to Colonial America. It is no coincidence that so many of the major urban thoroughfares in the United States are named Market Street.

Those markets began to decline in the post-World War II years, spurred by flight to the suburbs from the urban core and a change in how food was grown, processed and sold.

Where in past generations food for the table was dependent on what was locally grown, processing and transportation advances have allowed food to be shipped to every part of the United States in all seasons. It is not unusual for produce to travel more than 2,000 miles before it lands in the supermarket, which itself came of age in the postwar era.

Those shipments are not limited to food produced in this country: Many of the vegetables found in today’s markets come from other countries--strawberries from Mexico, asparagus from Peru, carrots from Canada, to name but a few.

California had its own set of circumstances that put a damper on the farmers’ markets. As it moved into the lead in national food production, a number of laws were passed that imposed strict regulations on how produce could be sold. As a form of quality control, fruits and some vegetables had to conform to size, weight, container and labeling requirements to be marketed. The exception from the requirements for farmers was that they could sell from roadside stands on their own property.

Small farmers as a rule did not have the financing to get into the packing and sorting business. And it also meant they couldn’t sell less than picture-perfect produce. The effective result was the demise of farmer’ markets.

That changed in 1977, after a series of protests by farmers about the stringent laws. A set of direct marketing regulations granting farmers more leeway in how and what they could sell was issued by the Department of Food and Agriculture.

“There’s a time when things get ripe, and the time then was ripe for the farmers,” said Les Portello, director of the state farmers’ market program after the regulations were passed. “The direct marketing concept was reborn.”

In Orange County, the banner was picked up by Bob Seat, then president of the Orange County Farm Bureau. Seat proposed to the Orange County Fair Board that, in the non-fair season, the parking lot of the fairgrounds be leased to farmers for a fresh produce market organized by the Farm Bureau.

The board said yes, and, on Aug. 15, 1981, the Costa Mesa Certified Farmers’ Market became the first in the county. “It took a little time for people to understand it was there,” Seat said. “But once they found the taste of that corn, it took off.”

The Thursday market at the fairgrounds continues. Today, seven of the 13 certified markets in the county are operated by the Farm Bureau. The markets draw farmers locally and regionally; the requirement that the farmers must grow what they sell is continually monitored.

In Los Angeles County, which has 38 certified markets, the first opened in Gardena in 1979.

“It opened with four farmers and sold out in an hour,” said Marion Kalb of the Southland Farmers’ Market Assn. “Now we have 25 farmers who go there every Saturday.”

Many a farmers’ market has been pushed for by civic leaders who have seen what it does in other communities.

One case is the market at San Dimas, a middle-class community east of Los Angeles. The farmers’ market has become such a draw for the town’s Main Street each Wednesday that other businesses, many of them antique shops, have seen sales improve simply because of the number of people who stroll past display windows while they shop for fruits and vegetables.

“It’s become a focal point for the community,” said Christopher Cash, the city’s economic development coordinator.

In the Bay Area city of Vallejo, the farmers’ market is given a great deal of the credit for reviving a dying downtown.

A striking example is Penn Yan, N.Y., a tiny community in the poorest county of the state. Facing an economic crisis because of factory layoffs, the little town took a gamble in 1987 and invested in a 60-by-100-foot market building.

Today there are eight buildings in the complex, 230 vendors and 10,000 shoppers on a good day. The market is the largest employer in the county.

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In Orange County and elsewhere, the markets have helped bring affordable produce to the needy.

Many markets accept food stamps. The number of food stamps taken in by the farmers rises dramatically around the first of the month, when the stamps are distributed.

There is also a federal program in which eligible mothers are given a onetime grant of $20 to be used at farmers’ markets as a way of encouraging the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables. Twenty-six states, including California, provide matching funds for the program, which has met with some success in introducing the concept that fresh food is a key ingredient for healthy children.

“I’ve had women and children come to the farmers’ market who did not know what a fresh green bean looked like or how to cook corn,” said Pam Roy of Santa Fe, president of the National Direct Marketers Assn.

The farmers’ market has been a boon to small farmers, giving them a chance to cut out the middle man and up their profit margin. (Produce at farmers’ markets may be cheaper than supermarkets but not dramatically so. The emphasis is on ripeness, flavor and unusual produce, such as Japanese apple pears.)

But eliminating that middle man also means farmers must travel from market to market and spend most of the week away from home. On the days when they are home, it means not rest but picking for the next round. Most make the bulk of their income through these direct sales.

For Avitua, it means hitting four markets in four days, beginning the trek by driving all night from the tiny town of Exeter in the Central Valley. His route takes him to Glendale, Long Beach, Pasadena and Alhambra before he is ready to return home Sunday afternoon. It also means two nights of motels a week, which does not dim his enthusiasm for the work.

“I really like it. It’s not only the money. I also enjoy just being here,” he said. “And besides, at home the work never ends.”

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Sunday

* Village Certified Farmers’ Market. 200 block of Avenida del Mar, San Clemente; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* Irvine Valley Certified Farmers’ Market. 5500 Irvine Center Drive at Irvine Valley College; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Wednesday

* Dana Point Certified Farmers’ Market. The Plaza, Street of the Golden Lantern and Coast Highway; 3 to 7 p.m.

* Fullerton Certified Farmers’ Market. 450 W. Orangethorpe Ave., Woodcrest Park; 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

* Tustin Certified Farmers’ Market. 3rd Street and El Camino Real; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Thursday

* Costa Mesa Certified Farmers’ Market. Orange County Fairgrounds parking lot; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* Fullerton Evening Certified Farmers’ Market (seasonal). Wilshire Avenue at Pomona Avenue; 4 to 8 p.m.

* Garden Grove Certified Farmers’ Market. Northwest of Main Street and Garden Grove Boulevard in city parking lot, across from Price Club; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Friday

* Huntington Beach Certified Farmers’ Market. Main Street and Orange Avenue; 2 to 7 p.m.

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Saturday

* Irvine Certified Farmers’ Market. Bridge Road at UC Irvine; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* Orange Certified Farmers’ Market. 230 E. Chapman Ave. at Lemon Street; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* Laguna Beach Certified Farmers’ Market. Lumberyard parking lot, next to City Hall; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* Corona del Mar Certified Farmers’ Market. At Coast Highway and Marguerite Avenue; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Contact the Orange County Farm Bureau, (714) 573-0374, Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon, or the Orange County Agricultural Commission, (714) 447-7100