Published: August 29, 2008 11:49 pm            

Sales booming at farmers markets

MEADS — Maybe it’s the high prices at the gas pumps and the grocery stores.

Or, perhaps it’s a reaction to the recent salmonella scares involving produce.

Or, maybe it’s simply that more folks are discovering the back-to-basics goodness of fresh, home-grown fruits and veggies.

Whatever the reason, local produce growers say they’ve enjoyed a banner summer selling their goods.

“This has been, by far, the best year I’ve seen, and I’ve been doing this for 20 years,” said Jay Sexton of Willard, who on Wednesday was selling tomatoes, melons, beans and cantaloupe with his wife, Kellie, at the Boyd County Farmer’s Market at Fannin Motors on U.S. 60.

In addition to Boyd, the Sextons said they sell in Lawrence and Elliott counties. They said it was rare for them to have anything left to take back home at the end of a sale day.

Jay Sexton said he believed that the boom in the local produce market was a product of people looking for ways to avoid paying higher prices for food.

“We sell tomatoes here for a buck a pound,” he said. “If you to a grocery store, they’re $1.88 or $1.89 a pound.”

Jay Sexton works as a registered nurse in the cardiac catheterization lab at King’s Daughters Medical Center. He said selling produce was a great source of additional income for his family.

“It’s extra money for a vacation, or clothes for the kids,” he said.

John Hieneman, who grows vegetables at his farm on Little White Oak in Greenup County and who was also selling at Fannin’s on Wednesday, said it had been a good year for him as well. But, he said he was concerned that his sales might come to a premature end due to the recent run of dry weather.

“I’m worried about the beans and the corn,” he said. “If they don’t get some rain soon, there’s not going to be any.”

Heineman said he believed that people were turning to local growers for their produce because “home-grown stuff is just better.

“They know that it’s straight off the farm, that it was just picked the day before,” he said.

Farmers’ markets are growing in numbers across Kentucky. And, the state has been ramping up its efforts promoting farmers’ markets and their locally grown produce.

Earlier this summer, state officials designated a special week to honor farmer’s markets throughout Kentucky.

“Farmers’ markets are a great source of fresh Kentucky Proud fruits and vegetables. Many also sell canned goods, meat, dairy products, crafts, flowers and other products,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said in a statement. “Those products are made close to home by your friends and neighbors.”

Just four years ago, there were about 85 farmers’ markets in Kentucky, according to Bill Clary, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. This year, there are nearly 120 markets with at least one in 112 of the state’s 120 counties, Clary said.

Clary said the agriculture department has been focusing on boosting farmers’ markets because of the potential they provide to small farmers. They accounted for an estimated $8 million worth of sales throughout Kentucky last year, he said.

“It gives producers an opportunity to sell their goods at fair prices that consumers can afford, but is still better than the wholesale market,” Clary said. “It’s just a good opportunity.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed information to this story.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

        

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