The decision to change meat vendors at the Greenbelt Farmers Market (GFM) has ignited a neighborhood controversy a week before the market opens for the season. It illustrates the challenges involved in balancing the interests of farmers and shoppers, as well as the seldom-discussed fact that farming practices and consumer preferences within the local food community are varied, even though local food represents a very small segment of the overall food marketplace.
What might have been a routine decision by the board of the GFM has evolved into an unfortunate conflict between Danny Rohrer, a well-liked local farmer striving to make a living off his family farm, and community volunteers attempting to provide the right mix of sellers to attract customers at a relatively new market.
Beyond the he-said-she-said nature of this dispute, the controversy illustrates the difficulties involved in organizing a farmers market, and it underlines an ongoing debate about allowing competing vendors within one farmers market. It also raises questions about how to prioritize one local, independently run, direct-marketing, sustainably-oriented family farm over another.
Boonsboro, MD-based Rohrer sells “pasture-raised and grain-finished beef, veal, pork, sausages, chicken, goat, lamb, eggs” with “no added hormone or growth-stimulant,” as noted in the “Frederick Farm Fresh” directory (he doesn’t have a website). Rohrer says the board of the GFM didn’t give him enough advance notice that he would not be invited back. “I should have been told last fall so that I could have found a replacement market,” he says. “But no, GFM used me by stringing me along in case they could not find a replacement. With no replacement, then I would have been acceptable.” In an email to some of his customers, Rohrer also explains how, in his view, the board didn’t abide by its obligations as outlined in its own market handbook in a variety of ways, including on seniority. He adds that the GFM implied to some customers that his meats were not “free from hormones, antibiotics, and arsenic,” which they are.
The GFM board disagrees with Rohrer’s characterizations, putting it this way in an email: “Our Board informed Danny Rohrer when he was originally accepted to our market that we would prefer a grass fed vendor. Members of the Board told Danny many times throughout the market season that we were continuing to search for a grass fed vendor. This year, for the first time, we had the opportunity to bring a 100% grass fed beef and heritage pork vendor to the market. We chose to accept this vendor, and we chose not to invite Danny to return to the Market.” This summer, the market will be in its third season.
Lynne Tucker Chandler, president of the GFM board of directors, emphasized to “Local Mix” that Greenbelt Farmers Market board members have been telling Rohrer since the market formed that “ultimately we wanted a grass-fed vendor.”
“It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him,” she said. “Our market is just too small to accommodate more than one,” she added, clarifying that “small” is referring to the market base and profitability, not physical space.
Meanwhile, through Joan Whalen (jwgreenbelt@gmail.com), Rohrer’s supporters have been circulating a petition asking the board to reconsider. The petition was submitted with 76 signatories, Whalen said.
Chandler told “Local Mix” on Wednesday that the board voted on an appeal submitted by Rohrer. But she would not reveal their decision before corresponding with Rohrer.
The new vendor chosen by GFM, Ferguson Family Farm of Parkton, MD, supplies “all natural farm fresh eggs, chicken, turkey, duck, Berkshire pork and beef,” as noted on its website. “Local Mix” confirmed that Ferguson beef is 100% grass-fed Angus. The website also noted, “All chickens are free range and grain fed. No chemicals or arsenic are used to enhance growth nor appetite,” and “We use sustainable agricultural methods and models such as that used by Joel Salatin to rotationally pasture and graze multiple species of animals naturally.”
Many markets only invite one vendor in each product area, especially at smaller and newer markets, where the guarantee of no on-site competition lessens the risk of participation for the vendors.
But some farmers market managers, including author Nina Planck, have spoken out against this practice as detrimental to farmers market culture and distasteful to shoppers, who want choices at the market. Their thinking is that competition is healthy and would allow the best farmers with the most well-liked products to rise to the top. This is especially true in cases where physical space is not limited.
Also, vendors selling what appear at first glance to be similar competing products may actually be offering differentiated items. Different farmers who may all be small-scale, independent, near-by, sustainably oriented and well-intentioned may still choose different practices, priorities and policies to balance different financial circumstances, business models and family needs. On the buyers’ side, some folks want only 100% grass-fed beef, while for others it’s not an issue. Some customers think “local” means within their own county or less than 100 miles, while others would define it as 150 miles or within their state. Some people want heritage breed pork, like Berkshire, while others don’t focus on the breed. Finally, some customers want the lowest-priced vendor who otherwise meets their preferred criteria.
For now, meat eaters can still purchase Rohrer’s meats at The Greenbelt Consumer Co-op supermarket, and he will still be providing a drop-point in the loading dock area of the store (near the location of the farmers market) on May 9. He will be there from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Rohrer is investigating selling at the farmers markets in Cheverly and/or Bowie. If anyone needs to contact him, he can be reached at 301-432-8350 or by email at Dakarohfarm@aol.com.
The Greenbelt Farmers Market will open on Sunday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.