Urban farmers' markets: accessibility, offerings, and produce variety, quality, and price compared to nearby stores

Abstract

Most food-environment research has focused narrowly on select stores and restaurants. There has been comparatively less attention to non-storefront food sources like farmers' markets (FMs), particularly in urban communities. The objective of the present study was to assess FMs' potential contribution to an urban food environment in terms of specific foods offered, and compare FM accessibility as well as produce variety, quality, and price to that of nearby stores. Investigators conducted a detailed cross-sectional assessment of all FMs in Bronx County, NY, and of the nearest store(s) selling produce within a half-mile walking distance (up to two stores per FM). The study included 26 FMs and 44 stores. Investigators assessed accessibility (locations of FMs and stores relative to each other, and hours of operation for each), variety (the number and type of all food items offered at FMs and all fresh produce items offered at stores), quality (where produce items were grown and if they were organic), and price (including any sales prices or promotional discounts). Analyses included frequencies, proportions, and variable distributions, as well as mixed-effect regressions, paired t-tests, and signed rank tests to compare FMs to stores. Geographic information systems (GIS) allowed for mapping of FM and store locations and determining street-network distances between them. The mean distance between FMs and the nearest store selling fresh produce was 0.15 miles (range 0.02-0.36 miles). FMs were open substantially fewer months, days, and hours than stores. FMs offered 26.4 fewer fresh produce items on average than stores (p values <0.02). FM produce items were more frequently local and organic, but often tended toward less-common/more-exotic and heirloom varieties. FMs were more expensive on average (p values <0.001 for pairwise comparisons to stores) - even for more-commonplace and "conventional" produce - especially when discounts or sales prices were considered. Fully, 32.8% of what FMs offered was not fresh produce at all but refined or processed products (e.g., jams, pies, cakes, cookies, donuts, juice drinks). FMs may offer many items not optimal for good nutrition and health, and carry less-varied, less-common fresh produce in neighborhoods that already have access to stores with cheaper prices and overwhelmingly more hours of operation.

Keywords: Farmers' markets; Food environment; Food stores; Fruit; Processed foods; Vegetables.

Figure 1A. List of less-common/more-exotic fresh produce varieties offered at farmers' markets and nearby stores in the Bronx^a

^aAll items available at farmers' markets unless otherwise indicated ^bItems also offered by at least one store in the sample ^cItems available at store(s) in the sample; not offered at any of the farmers' markets

Figure 1. Bronx Farmers' Markets (FMs) and nearby stores selling fresh produce

There were 26 FMs across the 42 mi² of the Bronx. All FMs were well within a half mile of at least one store selling fresh produce (mean distance to nearest store 0.15 miles, range 0.02 - 0.36 miles). The map shows 44 stores (two stores for each of 18 FMs, one store for each of the remaining 8 FMs).

Figure 2. Broad food classifications of items available across all 26 Bronx FMs

Fruit included fresh and dried varieties of generally-sweet, seed-bearing, whole produce (e.g., apples, berries, melons, cherries, plums/prunes, grapes/raisins, fresh and dried apricots, etc.). Vegetables included more-savory, seed-bearing, whole produce, which—while arguably “fruit” by strict botanical definition—many people think of as vegetables (e.g., tomatoes, squashes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, corn, bean pods). Vegetables also included true vegetables like shoots (e.g., asparagus), leaves (e.g., lettuces), flower buds (e.g., broccoli), tubers (e.g., potatoes), roots (e.g., carrots), and bulbs (e.g., onions) as well as mushrooms and herbs (e.g., basil, chives, mint, cilantro, and various teas like nettle and sumac). Other whole foods included nuts, seeds, eggs, cheeses, and whole-grain products (e.g., granolas, whole-grain breads, oatmeal bars). Refined or processed products included non-whole-grain baked sweets (e.g., cakes, cookies, scones, pastries, pies, donuts), savory items (e.g., quiches, croissants, empanadas, tiropitas, hot-dog sliders), juices/ciders (e.g., juice mixes, nectars, and juice drinks), sugar-added items (e.g., sugared coconut flakes, sweetened dried banana, sugared peanuts, apricots in syrup), and other concentrated sweets (e.g., molasses, jellies, jams, syrups, and honey).

Figure 3. Images from a Bronx farmers' market

Left panel: Large display of various juices, nectars, juice mixes, and ciders leading up to a sign for “PIES”. A small display of fresh vegetables can be seen just beyond the “PIES” sign. Right Panel: Farmers'-market sign advertising baked sweets and savory items over a table displaying these goods.