Does the farmer want a market? Factors impacting on participation by local producers in farmers markets

Author/s: Valerie Kupke, Geoff Page

Date Published: 2/01/2015

Published in: Volume 21 - 2015 Issue 1 (pages 61 - 75)

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a study which aimed to investigate the barriers to participation in farmers’ markets by the wider farming community in South Australia (SA) with a particular focus on small-to-medium-sized primary producers. While the experiences and motivations of farmers participating in markets outside Australia have been studied, there has been very little research conducted in Australia or internationally on raw food producers who remain outside the farmers’ market community. Both descriptive and multivariate analysis has been undertaken in an effort to rank and summarise the factors which inhibit participation by producers in farmers’ markets. Six key dimensions are identified as underlying the survey results and these are used to group producers into three clusters. Finally differences between farmers within each cluster groups are identified.

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Keywords

Farmers’ Markets - Participation - Producers

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