The Importance of Farmers Markets

Why is it so important to have farmers Markets? 
I would have to go back to when I first started working in growing with my father and brother.
That was in the days of no supermarkets, a vibrant Guernsey market, lots of small shops, wholesalers and greater self- sufficient than at present. There were lots of fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry and fish available.
Coming from a farming family and I was brought up to eat local and seasonal, the reasons being,  my dad, had us, eat his own  or barter produce.
There were 400 farmers and thousands of growers producing for export or local and land a plenty do do it. 
The days of 8 million trays of tomatoes leaving these shores. 
You can look back, but it is what you have to do now is important to the future. The facts now are that 80% of sales are though the Supermarkets and the rest is divided between shops, wholesalers, hedge veg and Farmers Markets. 
We now only have  18 farmers and a handful of large growers, who  produce food for local sale and virtually no exports.   
 Over the last decade we have lost about 3,000 vergees or 20% of our agricultural land to other uses. We are now not far from culling milking cows, as well as incinerating beef cattle.( read burning the beef and still burning the beef) 
Even the laws on fishing for local is so restrictive and the days of buying fresh fish or from vans coming down your road shouting ” anyone for mackerel” are sadly long gone.
So why are Farmers Markets so important because that is where our food will start being produced from again. This is because over the next decade it will not be so easy to sourced from other countries. With the shortages of agricultural land world wide, water and the cost of bringing it around the globe with all the cost and problems doing that.
We will have to be more self sufficient.
So to answer the question about why the Farmers Market are important.
Since we will continue to lose more land, it is even more important now, and in the future for small growers to have some where to sell their produce at a reasonable price. It is a fact that a smallholder can produce larger amount on a smaller area that the larger growers.
But in saying that, the smallholder is to small to supply, the needs of quality, quantity, continuation, packaging, daily delivery and barcoding of Supermarkets or large shops.
This is why with the markets, he has some where to start and build up his business, to get large enough to to supply these bigger outlets.
At the moment, I am sorry to say the popularity of the markets is decreasing and that is a shame when more small growers are producing.
In fact when you see the amount of stalls that have been there during the last few summers, now with less people shopping. It is the opposite of the first few years, when lots of customers came with less stallholders.
There are numerous reasons, more people growing on allotment or own vegetable areas, hedge veg., supermarkets selling local (even Jersey is Local in some cases),
Also we do not shop as the continental do which is, at the market first then on to the bigger shops.
The biggest reason is we can do a one shop anytime. One customer at this Saturdays market, summed it up when he said to me, “your spouts look nice, I should not have told my wife to buy some at the shop”.
All I can say is if we lose the Farmers Market like we lost the Town Markets, it will be the last of the big markets, never to return again. With this loss the smallholders will not have any where to establish themselves and it could be the final nail in the coffin of being more self sufficient in a changing world.