Are farmer’s markets better than supermarkets for the environment in New York City?
We’ve all heard it: when it comes to produce, “Shop Local.” But it’s tough for New Yorkers to get to a farm. So that’s why farmers come here from Upstate, Long Island, New Jersey, and parts of Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
More than 100 Farmers markets operate across the five boroughs.
What exactly makes these farmers markets better for the environment than supermarkets?
“Many of our urban dwellers have, you know, kind of distanced themselves in some ways from agriculture,” says Antonio DiTommaso, a professor of plant science at
Cornell University.
There are more than 30,000 family farms across New York State. All farmers have to do is load up trucks and come to the city.
“Typically, farmers markets are not industrialized agriculture,” says Lewis Ziska, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University. “That is, they’re not using the amount of fuel and pesticides that are normally used to produce a staple crop like corn or wheat or rice. They’re looking at a much smaller investment in terms of carbon for a given crop.”
Experts say farmers markets help shoppers see who grows their food up close, and become more connected to their community.
“I think in general we should be supporting small farmers, you know, from anywhere from farming meat organically to flowers to vegetables,” says Gloria Mittra, a farmers market shopper.
Whether you’re picking up apples or tenderloin, chat with farmers about what they raise—and how.
“You have many farms at market who aren’t organic certified, but have natural practices. So you could ask them briefly about their practices,” says Jason Shelton, a vendor for Hudson Valley Duck Eggs.
Here are some questions you can ask:
- Is your farm family owned?
- How many people work there?
- Do you use pesticides?
- What sort of soil do you use?
For many shoppers, agricultural ethics matter…even when prices may be higher.
“I come here for certain select items that are just so much better than in the grocery store,” says David Boghosian, a farmers market shopper.
Bobby Iser, another farmers market shopper, says, “It’s like you can’t really put a price on it because health is wealth.”
For farmers market foods like tomatoes, nutrition depends on how they’re grown, and what practices the farm uses to preserve nutrients. These factors can make them much different from industrially grown tomatoes.
“The thickness of the [supermarket] tomato is higher, the nutritional quality may be lower and it’s basically designed to be distributed over a much broader area than it has been in the past,” says Ziska, the environmental health professor.
It turns out the farmers market tomato wins nutritionally over the supermarket tomato— and you can literally taste the difference.
Christine Stoddard is a City Newsroom reporter covering climate change. Born and raised in Arlington, Virginia, she got her start in journalism as a photo editor at The Washington Post.
