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Price at the supermarket is set by the store itself. The price paid to a local farmer is often extremely low because that farmer has to compete with lower price per pound offerings from other regions or countries. Stores can also offset the price of an item by charging more for another item. Many local farms are actually excluded from the local supermarket chains, often because the purchasing decisions at those stores comes from an out of state purchasing agent. Expansion of the UGB also increases the cost because it pushes urban areas into traditionally agricultural regions, which comes with a host of increased regulations, jursidictional requirements, and often a loss of productivity due to new environmental pressures. In fact, for most farmers, the markets are more of a marketing opportunity than a real sale, so even if the cost is higher at the market, it is really costing the farmer more to be there.

posted 5 years, 1 month ago
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