Helpful Information and FAQs for Farmer’s Market Shoppers

Often, yes! Bulk options and seconds may be available – ask your farmers and ranchers at the market! Value-added food producers may offer the option to purchase cases of salsa, jams, jellies and more. If you ask ahead, your farmer, rancher or food producer can be sure to bring what you’ve requested, but it’s also fine to ask at the market and see what they have available that day!

Bulk purchasing: Farmers may have bulk options for fruit, tomatoes, chiles, potatoes, onions and other veggies available at the peak harvest time for crops (check the Colorado produce calendar! Ask about full cases of peaches in August and sometimes into September, tomatoes from August through the first frost (generally, but not always, mid-October). Ask about bulk onion, squash and other storage crops at markets in October and November so you can stock up for the winter.  Ask ranchers about bundles or boxes of meat, or quarter or half beef, pigs or lamb.  With bulk purchasing, the fruit, veggies or meat are the same quality as you’ll find by the piece, but since you’re buying a larger quantity, the price per pound will usually be less.

Seconds:  Seconds produce are fruits and vegetables that have minor blemishes. These blemishes can be caused by insect or bird damage, hail, frost or disease, and typically affect a small part of an otherwise excellent fruit or vegetable. Purchasing seconds is a great way to get a discount on the price per pound, reduce food waste, and support farmers in selling produce that other customers like grocery stores won’t accept. Be sure to ask your farmer if their seconds produce require different handling (eg., seconds fruit won’t last quite as long as #1 fruit so should be eaten or processed more quickly).

Eating with the seasons is one of the pleasures of shopping at farmers markets. Here are some ways to learn about what fruits and vegetables are in season:

• Ask farmers at your market. Ask about what they have this week, and what they expect to be bringing to market in the coming weeks.
• Refer to this helpful Colorado Produce Calendar from the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.
• Check out CFMA’s month by month seasonal availability posts!
• Purchase plant starts and seeds at the farmers market in April, May and early June and grow your own veggies! Growing your own, even one or two vegetables or herbs, is a great way to tune into the seasons and learn more about eating seasonally.  Growers at the market selling plant starts and seeds will have great tips to share about about planting and growing at home.

• Bring your EBT card to the Market Information Booth  (often at the center of the market, and you can ask any vendor also).
• At the info booth, you’ll swipe your EBT card for the amount you want to spend at the market, and you’ll get that amount of SNAP bucks or tokens to shop with vendors selling SNAP-eligible foods.
• Many markets also participate in Double Up Food Bucks, so for every dollar you spend on SNAP, you’ll receive $1 in Double Up Food Bucks to spend on Colorado-grown fruits and vegetables (up to $20 per visit). Go to doubleupcolorado.org/  to learn more!
• Search by “Programs” at COfarmersmarkets.org to find markets that welcome SNAP, Double Up and more!
• The Colorado Produce Bonus is a new pilot program that is available at a few markets this year and will be available at more next year.  Visit https://cdhs.colorado.gov/snap-produce-bonus to learn more.  At markets that participate in this program, you can also bring your EBT card directly to produce vendors to shop with them. Still make sure to visit the info booth to get SNAP bucks to purchase any eligible food items that are not produce, and check with the market team at the info booth with any questions you have – they will be happy to help!

YES!  Don’t hesitate to ask questions! This is one of the benefits of being at a farmers markets, to be able to learn about your food, where it comes from and how it is grown.

Questions you can ask farmers and ranchers at markets:

• Where is your farm or ranch located?
• Do you grow/raise everything you sell? If not, who grows it? Where?
• Can you tell me about your growing practices?   What are your practices for raising your animals?
• If there are particular veggies or fruit you love, ask if they grow it!

*** Know that farmers are glad to share about the food they grow, and about their farms – and sometimes it’s busy at the market and they can’t talk or may need to be brief.*** In this case, circle back later to see if they are more free to chat.

Other questions you can ask to learn more about the work that goes into growing your food:

• Why did you start farming or ranching?
• What is your favorite part about farming or ranching? What is the hardest part?
• What are some challenges you have had with weather this year/last year or challenges with farming or ranching in general?
• What are some of your favorite veggies/fruit you grow or cuts of meat you produce?
• What do you wish people knew about farming or ranching?

There are so many possible reasons for this! You can’t know unless you ASK. Ask your market manager or farmers or other food producers at the market.

Here are some possible reasons:

• It’s a late season. In 2023, for example, many crops came in about a month late because of unusually cool, rainy weather in May and June.
• Farmers experienced other weather-related challenges such as hail or frost, and crops were destroyed. They will be back – keep coming regularly to the market to support farmers and help get them through challenging weather!
• Keep looking, and ASK: markets have a wide variety of vendors and sometimes it will take some time to find the veggies you are looking for. If you don’t see what you are looking for right away, go through the whole market. Ask at the info booth, or ask other vendors – where do I find the __________?
• Sometimes farmers choose to leave farmers markets to sell through a CSA or a Farm Stand. Ask your market manager how to find out more about their farm so you can continue to purchase from them. If you would purchase more often if they were at the market, let them know! It’s helpful to know what our customers are looking for.
• Sometimes farms can’t continue for a number of reasons:
  • The farmer lost the lease on the land.
  • Farming is really, really hard. Sometimes farmers choose not to continue or are not able to continue. Remember this as you commit to buying regularly from your farmers – every customer, every purchase matters in keeping a farm going.
• If you’re not satisfied with the farmers market you attended, try again on another day! Markets can be smaller in the early season and vendors such as fruit vendors come later in the season. Or try another farmers market! There are over 120 farmers markets across Colorado, and every single market is different, even markets close to each other.

The Colorado Farmers Market Association’s map of member markets and market profiles are a good resource for finding farmers markets in Colorado. Use the search tools on the map to search by County, Market Day(s), Months Open and Programs (if the market welcomes SNAP, Double Up and more).

Colorado Proud maintains a map of places to find farm-fresh food in Colorado, including farmers markets, farm stands and more.

To find participating vendors at each market, visit each market’s website. Many markets maintain a list of vendors on their websites, or, make it an adventure to find new vendors while visiting your local market!