Understanding Why Potential Shoppers Do Or Do Not Use Local Farmers Markets

Abstract

Consumption of fruits and vegetables decreases risk of cardiovascular disease, some cancers, and other chronic diseases. Farmers markets (FM) can improve consumption of fruits and vegetables and contribute to community food systems. Governments enact policies to support FM, but FM in many communities are underused. Barriers often mentioned include inconvenient location, hours, and price, but research usually is conducted only with shoppers. We aimed to examine socio‐demographic characteristics, purchasing behaviors, and perceived motivators and barriers for potential FM shoppers. We surveyed 240 participants living within 1 kilometer of 2 FM so that inconvenient location was not a likely issue. Fifty‐six percent were FM shoppers, mostly female adults (mean age=50.6). FM shoppers had similar incomes but lower education than non‐shoppers. Fruits and vegetables were the most purchased products by shoppers (>90% of shoppers); other common items were meat, eggs and cheese (>30% of shoppers). Among shoppers, price, freshness, and close locality were main motivators to attend the FM. Among non‐shoppers, inconvenient hours of operation, lack of time, and high prices were reasons not to attend the FM. Qualitative data provided additional understanding of perceived strengths and weaknesses of FM. By understanding barriers and FM weaknesses for non‐shoppers, messages can be tailored to address these, leading to more effective social marketing strategies to promote FM usage. Our findings also provide FM managers with information on FM potential improvements, which will lead to our ultimate goal, an increase in the use of these markets as the main venue for fruit and vegetable purchase in the population.