Thank you, MJ for the ongoing coverage & support by you and your readers of the Jacksonville Farmers Market (JFM). JFM is operated as a community service by its owners with support from its customers, vendors, area residents, community groups, and the City of Jacksonville.
In response to the article and reader posts, JFM would like to furnish some additional information:
As Florida's oldest public farmers market, JFM is unique for being a working farmers market hosting farmers, retailers, and wholesalers every day of the year (including holidays), from dawn to dusk.
Unlike weekend or seasonal markets, JFM customers expect one stop shopping for a wide range of produce, agricultural products, and other food items requiring vendors to carry product from local, regional, national, and international sources. Local and regional (Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and other Southeastern states) products are always preferred due to their proximity and can be found in abundance at JFM during their respective seasons. Availability can be subject to climate and updates are typically posted weekly on our Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/JaxFarmersMarket. When product is not available in this area, vendors will supplement with product still in season in other areas. This is necessary to sustain vendors throughout the year so they can sell area produce when it is in season.
Additionally, JFM is a significant source for ethnic (e.g. Hispanic and Asian) and unique items not found elsewhere. These items sometimes can only be sourced from other areas of the country or internationally.
We suggest interested purchasers familiarize themselves with the harvest seasons of local product (such as monitoring JFM's Facebook page) and discuss with their favorite JFM vendors the source of their products.
JFM actively works with area farmers to rent space or to arrange to sell their product on the market. Unfortunately, due to the urbanization of our area, there are far fewer local farms than just 20 years ago. Also, many farmers are not aware of the opportunity afforded by JFM's volume of shoppers and the ease of renting space (daily to monthly, one stall to many, for only dollars a day). We always appreciate referrals of farmers and vendors via email on our website,
http://www.jaxfarmersmarket.com/ or by calling our office and asking for our general manager, Greg, at 904-354-2821.
Many ask us about how farmers sell at JFM. Farmers may sell directly off their trucks or trailers on our "farmers line" on the gravel area on the eastern side of the market at the edge of the parking lot. Typical of most farmers markets around the country, today, most of these farmers prefer to wholesale quickly to JFM vendors between 3 AM and early daylight hours so that they may return to their farms rather than spend their days selling. Permanent JFM vendors, in turn, sell the farmers' product direct to the public, fine restaurants, roadside stands, purveyors in "weekend" markets, suburban produce stores, etc. Some JFM vendors maintain their own truck fleets and go direct to farms to bring back product to JFM. Still, other farmers will rent their own stalls at JFM to sell on a seasonal basis. Regardless of the method, area farmers' seasonal output is always available at JFM.
Due to the direct sourcing and low overhead of JFM's many small business vendors, product at JFM is generally available at the lowest prices, typically 50 to 70+% below any store or other venue prices.
JFM is a catalyst for economic development. In addition to vendors averaging over 100 employees daily, JFM is an incubator for many small and family businesses. JFM serves the surrounding community, identified as a "food desert" (i.e. underserved by grocery stores), with healthy foods and by encouraging vendors to accept EBT/SNAP (formerly known as food stamps). This service has been recognized recently by visits from Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Adam Putnam, and USDA Deputy Secretary, Kathleen Merrigan.
JFM is excited about its potential to grow by expanding use of our 2 acre gravel lot and the adjacent 28,000 square foot former grocery store. We are always open to new vendors and have recently added ones selling such items as organics, natural juices, sauces, salsa, rubs, dressings, baked goods, jams, jellies, honey, boiled peanuts, kettle corn, and fried pork skin. They join existing produce and seafood (Mayport shrimp, seafood, live crabs, smoked fish, etc.) vendors. Vendors can vary daily so contact JFM, monitor our Facebook page's "Vendor Spotlights", or contact the vendor for their specific hours. Interested new vendors should contact Greg per above.
We hope the above information addresses concerns MJ readers have and we will monitor this thread from time to time for any additional comments. Or, visit our Facebook page with your thoughts. Thanks again to MJ and its readers for their support. JFM has a very limited marketing budget and relies heavily on social media and word of mouth to build traffic to support further growth. School, church, community, and tour groups can also arrange tours of JFM.
