Blog entries by Tom Roberts

About Tom Roberts

When I started attending the Brewer Farmers’ Market back in August of 1983, my sole concern was being able to sell the produce my farm was growing at a good price. After attending market for a year or two, I began to realize that how the market was organized had a great impact on my sales. And how the market was organized also influenced how it made decisions about dues, new members, what could be sold at market, and how it promoted itself—and this, too, had an impact on my sales. So I got involved in the market’s steering committee and began to understand how various market members thought the market should operate. Some wanted a market czar, some wanted everyone to be allowed to do their own thing. But everyone seemed to agree that if the market as a whole did well, then so did they.

Market rules and by-laws: What’s the difference?

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Many people use the terms “Rules” and “By-Laws” interchangeably. They are similar, but have basic differences. You might think of the difference this way: By-laws are like our Constitution, and Rules are like our laws. Rules (sometimes called “guidelines” or “regulations”) are for the day-to-day operation of the markets. They are often changed a little […]

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Missing the point about “Why Farmers’ Markets Fail:” A lesson in radical green economics of yesterday and tomorrow

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The recent feature article “Why Do Some Farmers Markets Fail?” excerpted from an extension bulletin by Larry Lev, Garry Stevenson and Linda Brewer in the March/April 2008 issue of Farmers’ Markets Today seems to have left out some very important factors leading to the demise of certain farmers markets. The article does mention several factors that […]

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Dependent Markets vs. Independent Markets

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Consider for a moment the way farmers’ markets are organized. Not whether or how they are incorporated, not how many or what kind of members they have, but rather how and whether the membership is involved in the management of the business of being a farmers’ market. There seems to be two general categories: those […]

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A 2020 vision for Maine’s farmers’ markets

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The future reality of farmers’ markets can be determined to a great degree by today’s vision of what we’d like to see, and on what tools we have and can develop to bring that vision about. This article discusses our understanding of where we are today, and what choices we might make to bring about […]

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