Are we seeing the end of the Traditional Community Farmers Market(TCFM)? The answer is an emphatic YES! Can the TCFM be saved? The answer is also an emphatic YES!
The other day my business partner and I were discussing this very thing. Actually. Truth be told. We stumbled into discussing these questions. (Hence this blog.) We started out discussing what our next steps in marketing our suite of Farmers Market specific platforms should be. This discussion quickly turned into a realization that, even though we knew a lot about the mechanics of a farmers’ market, and that our suite of platforms would be a great fit for any of the business models employed by Farmers Markets. We had been approaching all our potential clients as monolithic in their motivations and business structure. We hadn’t fully appreciated the multiple unique business motivations and business models that constitute the current Farmers Market universe. Each business model has its own unique motivational drivers and definitions of success.
So, before we get into answering the first question above. Let’s give a little bit of background to set the stage. This way we can establish our credentials, and you don’t decide we’re just a couple of sugared up 10-year-olds waving our arms; screaming at the top of our lungs.
Our Credentials: Over the last 5+ years we have developed a suite of websites designed specifically to service the multiple unique organizational structures that make up the farmers market world (CSA, Co-Op, .COM, .GOV, and .ORG). We accomplished this by partnering with a small local Co-Op that wanted to grow to serve a larger portion of the community. The Co-Op owner has a real heart for the local community, for locally farmed foods, farmers & artisans, and locally produced artisan products used in everyday life. (Non-GMO, Grass-Fed, Free Range, Pesticide Free, Anti-Biotic Free, Detergent Free, Preservative Free, No Artificial Ingredients, Colors or Dyes, etc…) Literally if it contains anything not from nature it isn’t sold in the Co-Op.
For us to develop the platforms we have today we genuinely had to get involved in every aspect of the Co-Op (Not just the e-commerce website requirements.) This made us have to learn the vendor side of the business (by being a vendor), learn the customer side (By being a customer), and learn the market manager side (by working the reports, packing orders, receiving product from farmers and artisans, delivering orders to customers, paying out the vendors, assisting the vendors with product management, explaining imperfect products to “new to all natural” customers, etc…)
What did we learn? Running a Farmers Market or being a vendor in a Farmers Market (Irrespective of its organization). IS A REALLY TOUGH JOB! Automation is the key to success in today’s over-busy and competitive world.
Our flagship website is the multivendor marketplace where any farmers market can create a virtual farmers market, that carries their unique marketing branding & messaging, to mirror their current physical market. (At this point you’re saying to yourself. YEAH! Who wouldn’t get this as a MUST HAVE in today’s busy and internet crazy world. — You’d be surprised.)
Our recently launched sites are a learning platform and a member only, social media platform. These platforms can greatly increase your markets’ effectiveness in serving your community and make participation in your market a more profitable venture for your local farmers and artisans. (At this point you’re saying to yourself AGAIN. YEAH! Who wouldn’t get these also as a MUST HAVE in today’s busy and internet crazy world. — Again. You’d be surprised.)
***In an upcoming series of blogs, we will be covering the benefits and capabilities of each of these web platforms.
The Question: Are we seeing the end of the Traditional Community Farmers Market (TCFM)?
This article is intended to focus solely on answering this question as it applies to the business model of the Traditional Community Farmers Market.
When we expand the question to include other farmers markets business models, the answer is an emphatic NO! IN FACT! Right now, is truly the best time to participate in a CSA/Co-Op/.COM Farmers Market as a customer, a vendor, or market manager.
The Answer: YES! Yes, we are.
USDA data, and multiple articles and blogs all point to the same conclusion. It has been an ongoing process. Particularly over the last century. The speed of decline is cyclical, and there are distinct economic conditions and indicators that define which type of cycle the TCFM decline is in. The ultimate end state of the TCFM will not be a complete elimination of any TCFM, anywhere in the county, but even the survivors will never realize their former glory. Much like a ghost town or riding a train instead of flying are a novelty of a bygone era. We take a break from our high paced life. We invest a few moments to participate in the overwhelming sense of nostalgia. We buy a few trinkets and then return to our lives.
The Why: This is simple to answer and can be summed up in 3 words.
FAILURE TO INNOVATE!
Yep. It’s that easy to state. Inflexibility and unwillingness to change are the heart of why this has been and will continue to happen.
I’m not trying to be hard on TCFM’s. They are in good company when it comes to this particularly myopic approach to their existence.
Dynastic armies which held an iron grip on the known world have repeated this mistake over and over. History’s roads are strewn with the fallen dynasties who have failed to innovate and were soundly defeated by an innovation of warfare. This issue isn’t confined to only nations and their armies.
The last place you would expect to find this failure to innovate, which is still going on today, is the modern business world. In fact, this category of failure is filled with such notables as Kodak, Blockbuster, Sears, and Radio Shack to name a few. Even IBM almost became an “Also Ran”. The big decision that nearly cost them everything was that personal computers were a “passing fad” and adopting this technology into its business line was literally beneath them. They finally awoke to reality just in time. There were significant changes to personnel and business lines to make up for significant lost opportunities. IBM was in real trouble for quite a time. I was a programmer during this era and made a lot of money doing what they were unwilling to do. Make IBM hardware pass data and work seamlessly with the “passing fad”. Man did I take a lot of chiding from the 500lb gorilla (which was IBM) during that time.
What makes this situation even worse is that fixing this is one of the most complex paradoxes I can think of. It almost makes the quantum paradox of Schrodinger’s Cat seem more solvable than this.
On one side of the paradox: The cause of the problem is easy to identify. The indicators are glaringly obvious. The ultimate outcome is 100% predictable, based on the nearly inexhaustible historical evidence which points to only 1 outcome.
On the other side of the paradox: The human beings running the show. Singularly, the most inflexible creature in all of Gods creation. Once a person has become accustomed to their situation, the chances of getting them to change drop dramatically with each successive year of “sameness”. It doesn’t matter how voluminous the evidence is. How much light is shown on it. The chances of humans changing anything, let alone everything that needs changing, is singularly the biggest problem to stopping the easily avoided outcome.
Despite all the evidence, which is/was plain to identify, these dynasties, corporations, and TCFM’s absolutely refused to embrace the information that was clearly in view. In fact, you can research and find out there were no surprises when the end came. Many a Market Manager, Volunteer, General, CEO, Consultant, CFO, Chief of Staff, Grand Vizir, Royal Counsel, etc… was ignored, or were relieved of their duties. In some cases, relieved of their heads (in the case of the Dynasties) for daring to bring up these uncomfortable truths.
How do you convince a human being(s) they need to change? How do you break the mindset: “This time! This is the one that will turn it all around!” when they’ve done nothing different than the last time. Sadly, there is no pat answer on how to accomplish this. The old expressions “He’s just polishing brass on a sinking ship” or “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” comes to mind. The individual/board in charge are focused on minor changes so as not to upset the status quo (also know as their comfort zone).
Can the TCFM be saved? The answer is also an emphatic YES!
I’ll wrap this up by stating two things.
First: We haven’t given up on TCFM’s. Quite the contrary. We know they are filled with good folks that do want to be a benefit to every member (resident, farmer, artisan) of their local community and surrounding areas.
Second: However, we have determined TCFM’s are a long game. They are singularly going to be the hardest nut to crack, because they are the most entrenched in “It was good enough for grandma & grandpa. It’s good enough for today’s generation.”
To best illustrate how we arrived at this conclusion is to describe what we have been met with the mindset described in the paradox at every turn during our reaching out to TCFM’s. The responses we have received can be summed up with two statements:
- “Why do I need a web presence and how would that help my customers and vendors?” (When we replied with the how; we heard nothing in response.)
- “This would be great, but the “board” will take a lot of convincing.” (When we replied telling this market manager we understood and were available to provide any assistance necessary; we heard nothing in response.)
There has been one exception. A local TCFM. We got them up on the e-commerce platform and that’s where they stopped innovating. They absolutely refused to innovate any further despite our urging to implement some organizational changes we knew, through first-hand experience, would have shown immediately positive returns. They acknowledged the validity of the changes but would not implement the changes. They only went with the platform. Sadly, that market has now ceased operations. They knew they needed to innovate, but their board couldn’t emotionally/psychologically handle the amount and speed required to innovate and survive. I believe the board had made it difficult to even make this change, pushed innovation off for far too long, and a defeatist mindset had settled in amongst the doers of the market. They “made an effort” but were really, just waiting on the inevitable.
Unfortunately, my partner and I have concluded this is more the rule with TCFM’s than the exception.
How do you save your TCFM?
If you are a member of the decision-making body of TCFM I would ask you to take a serious look at the state of your market and then get ahold of us here at Cornerstone Web Developers. I recognize that the majority of TCFM’s are not profit oriented entities. Markets like CSA’s, Co-Op’s, and other .coms are organized to make a profit, but remember your farmers & artisans will only sell on your market if there is profit to be made. They cannot survive without profit. If you’re not doing everything possible to make your market as profitable as possible for your farmers and vendors, you’re already on the way out.
If you are a vendor or artisan that would like to participate in your local TCFM, but there just isn’t enough money to be made to make it worth your while. Give this article and our contact information to your local market manager and have that honest discussion with them about why you’re not participating.
If you’re a community member and have watched the “death in slow motion” of your local market to the point where you struggle for a good reason, other than nostalgia, to go down and participate in your TCFM. Send this article and our information to your TCFM market manager and have that honest discussion with them about the struggles your having regularly supporting the market.
Board members, and market managers, realizing they are just “polishing brass on a sinking ship” and/or grass roots feedback to the board and managers of your TCFM is the best and fastest way to turn things around.