clkeiper,
I know EXACTLY how you feel.
I started at what was purported to be a "producer" only market 35 years ago. We sold there for over 20 years. But I finally couldn't stand it (read compete) when on any given Saturday about 1/2 of the produce there was (to me) obviously from the downtown commission market vendors (wholesalers) or from a huge commercial farm 2 counties away. I have to hire labor and couldn't compete with the low prices they were able to do on the "bought" produce.
My other related complaint was about a couple of the vendors that inevitably would bring in a pickup or bigger load of something about a week or 2 ahead of anyone else before anything local was ready. Instead of dribbles as we know a product starts with. Often it was tomatoes or melons that were predictably tasteless as shipped stuff is. Then you would hear customers wandering around mumbling that "the stuff doesn't taste good this year" .
Well DUH !!!!! Of course it doesn't taste good. It isn't home grown. But if you complained to the management of the market that the vendor was cheating often they blew it off or would come inspect YOU instead of them. Also the offenders knew that the "inspectors" didn't know what to look for. If you had 20 ft of green beans you could bring in bushels every market (3 / week).
The final straw was when a vendor I knew only had 1/2 acre of newly planted asparagus brought in more than I did from my BIL's 12 acres. It was a cool spring and when I complained about it their answer was "well they are farther south than you." Yes my little farm was north of them. But in reality my asparagus came from about 75 miles south of theirs and from a mature field.
So now I sell at 1 market that is truly "producer only" and another that is a lot better than that first market.
I could go on about customers too, but another time.
Carol
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