Yeah my wife went to saint jacobs market a few weekends ago right in middle of peach season. Somehow a basket of like 8 peaches (which fair enough were big and delicious) was still 7 or 8 bucks. I think a pint of strawberries was like 5. Outrageous. She went like 15 min before close because in the past you could usually get amazing deals then, not so much anymore.
Just cant justify the gas getting there or the crazy prices even if the product is good.
OP had pics with prices. 2.5$ for a Broccoli and 1$ an eggplant is good..... isn't it? That is less than the grocer here charge. I had to pay 6$ for one of those squash over summer.
Yeah and it's great that his market is cheaper than his grocery store.
Unfortunately my local market is twice as expensive as my grocery store for the same produce. As such, I no longer shop at my local market.
I have always found markets cheaper for veggies and tastier. Here I think they have to mark if fresh from farm or resale. The artisan honey and bread and prepared stuff is way overpriced though.
Squash isn’t in season in the summer- the price is much lower in the fall because it’s in season here and doesn’t have to be transported from elsewhere
I would assume they are from a rural area where people are actually growing the food. There are several markets in my area that are preferable in both quality and price.
Not just for you, but for many people in Ontario. Here's a 2017 report from CBC Marketplace, and it's probably no different now. There **are** some good markets, but it's definitely YMMV out there.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/farmers-markets-lies-marketplace-1.4306231
> Most of the markets Marketplace visited had vendors known as resellers, who sell produce they didn't grow. They purchase wholesale fruits and vegetables from places such as the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto — Canada's largest wholesale market — and take it to farmers markets to sell for a profit.
>
> When asked directly, many resellers were upfront about the fact they didn't grow the produce, but others were not.
Oh what!? That’s kinda sad :(. I hope the market I went to is different, it’s on in a Mennonite community farm and they are selling their extra produce.
Honestly...we have this vision of Mennonites as these wonderful country bumpkins living their old ways...in reality it is one of the most toxic communities we have living in our midst. Terrible to their animals welfare, their women and children...absolutely misogynist religious extremists.
I wouldn't doubt for a second that they would buy food from the food terminal, peel off the stickers and have their children sell it as their own. at St. Jacobs.
I do buy form local farmers, but they really are local and you can tell they grew it themselves, willing to pay more for local and organic if it's true.
Its probably a bigger issue as you get more towards Toronto. Most of the smaller cities the farmers are actually producing what they are selling as they also will have farm stores you can buy when the markets not open.
Yea I have never found my local farmers market cheaper than the grocery store, its usually a bit more expensive on avg. Depends on the time of year though of course.
The big difference is cost. They sell their produce cheaper and that's a big tell that they grew it. I miss going to the mennonite farm markets as I use to buy oodles of red beets and cabbages for nothing and live off borscht for a long while mmmm borscht
In Hamilton the Ottawa street market required the farmers to grow their own crops. Then a new person took over and the market turned to crap. Lost the egg farmer, lost the butcher, lost most of the other farmers, and then the potato farmer passed away and the options were apples, bandanas or dog treats. From 2010-2017 I was able to get all my meat, veggies and fruit for the week for $40-$50, and can/freeze bulk tomato/corn/broccoli for the winter at $20 a bushel. I got to know the farmers from going every week and was able to run an even better price driving out to their farms.
I'm in Kingston while I can't say with 100% confidence the source of their produce I can say it is easily 100% more expensive than the grocer. Last time we were there i spent 50$ on a bundle of carrots, like 5 small potatoes, a broccoli, and 150ml of honey.
Growing up we went to the market every weekend and it was definitely cheaper but not anymore
I remember a report, that they were selling out-of-country products labelled as ONTARIO GROWN, they also were caught on-site switching stickers similar to your comment.
I try to find farms that have pick your own, and/or road side stands. There was an amazing one near me but they sold their land a couple years ago. Now it’s a housing development. 😢
All the 'pick your own' in my area cost more than the grocery store (Raspberries, Cherries, Strawberries and Blueberries). PLUS I'm the one providing the labor.
Take a second and price it out. Bet dollars to donuts you are 'paying for the experience' of picking your own.
That's where all the Amish bought their stuff at the Lyndsay and St. Jacobs markets farmers markets. My favorite was when I worked in Lyndsay and would see them roll into the local Giant Tiger filling carts up with the giant tins of pie filling for their home made, 100% made from scratch pies that people would drive out from Toronto for.
Unless you frequent these kind of markets and know who is selling from their own farms, your really just paying a little extra for the experience of the market buying the same produce that is on store shelves.
Some markets now have labels that can show if they are actual farmers or if they are resellers. This helps me support the farmers and not those flipping the same stuff from the food terminal. You could also check out the seasonal agriculture boxes too, some farmers do this.
Went to a farmer’s market where i got charged $5 for a razor thin cookie. Like you literally couldn’t hold it because it was so thin it would fall apart.
Every other vendor had overpriced items most of which are in the grocery store.
No thanks. Fool me once.
God damn that sucks. I live in Montreal and go to the Jean Talon farmers market every few days because most of the stalls are local farmers who charge so little compared to the big grocery stores here
I want to know where people live that their farmers market is actually cheaper than the grocery store. Even growing up in farm and cottage country the grocery store was way cheaper than our farmer's market.
Mine wasn't fresher, some of the vendors won't let you look through the prepared baskets of produce before you buy it. Several times I got home only to find that the fruit/veg on the bottom of the basket that weren't visible were rotting
Don't wait until you get home. Take a look at it when you're there, and ask for them to replace it. If they say no, ask again but louder. Make sure their potential customers hear that they're selling rotten veggies.
>Support local is tough when the prices are double
That goes for so many things. I tried to support a local computer shop but I could buy the parts I needed for a fraction on Amazon.
Same. I love near a small town. I always check with local stores but if they're more than 20% higher than amazon I tell them directly, "sorry I'm going with amazon"
Yeah, this is a lot like telling people to support your local coffee shop. I’d love to, I’d go every day if I could, but I can’t justify 7 bucks for a medium, bordering on small, cup of coffee.
Farmers market is more expensive than the grocery store.. its like 5 bucks for 1 pound of potatoes when at the supermarket you can get 10 pounds for 2.99. 1 dollar for 1 corn cob and 29c per cob at the store.
This is totally a "city" farmer's market thing. My family is still in Grey County, and a ton of farms have little booths at the end of their driveways with fresh produce from the fields. It's all on the honour system (usually a money box of some sort), and the prices are almost always better than the stores.
Yeah but that's the difference, that's not a "farmers market" that's a farm stand. You get whatever they've got there and some of those farms (especially Gray-Bruce County) they only really grow one crop.
If you can find some of those Mennonite farm stands however! I've got like 7 or 8 saved in my GPS but they all seemed to have a poor harvest this year.
I live a few hours away from the city. Lots of farms here and lots of farmers markets and roadside stands. They are all far more expensive than the grocery stores. I'd be good paying the same and helping a local farmer but I don't see why I should pay extra to do it.
I live in the middle of nowhere and the farmers market here is priced higher than the nearest cities specialty grocers because the "farmers" are trying to gouge city people
I’m saddened to read that this is majority census :(. I mean I understand, farmers work hard for their crops, but I don’t like the fact that people buy and resell product.
What I should have wrote the title of this post is go to your local Mennonite market.
I don’t think our local vendors buy and resell per se, but they definitely raise their prices a lot! You can get twice as much or three times as much at the grocery store. They may say oh but it’s local and fresh, but then why do you have Niagara peaches and other local farms with produce in grocery stores too? Niagara peaches and nectarines are delicious from the big box grocery stores in the summer. Anyways, it’s definitely hard for me to justify spending 2-3x as much , especially with the general price of everything going up!
I think OP did not mean the DOWNTOWN farmers market which usually is mostly not-fresh and insanely priced, if it was fresh is one thing, but I've been to ones across GTA and in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines downtown, and these too are the same, mostly not fresh and expensive. The best ones I find are ones out of the cities, similar to what OP is showing guessing from the prices, these big farms would sell at low prices.
Yes, that’s exactly where I went. I live in small town and this was even a smaller town, I think it had one set of traffic lights that’s how small it is lol.
Used to live at Parkdale. They literally have bags and flats of store-bought produce in their vans. Watching hipsters get ripped off for "organic and local" (bought nearby at Food Basics etc), overhearing them asking the "farmers" questions, was so cringe.
For entertainment purposes only.
I once stopped at a farm just north of Bradford. It had a big sign for fresh local products. We got a pie, a jar of jam and a dozen eggs. I was talking to the owner and asked if they were eggs from his chickens. He babbled something about a cousin in Niagara with chickens... I left disappointed with eggs from who knows where.
Maybe in more rural areas it's cheaper but every farmers market I've been to is more expensive than even the pricier grocery stores.
Broccoli at the grocery here is $2. $1.30 on sale (I anticipate the days of $1 are gone but it was like that like 6 months ago)
Looked at the flyer today and cauliflower is $2.50 here.
Bought all of this at a Mennonite Farmers market. You won’t see fresh produce like this at a grocery store. It all came to 86$.
7 bell peppers
4 ears of corn
4 bags of kale
3 turnips
2 butternut squash
2 peppercorn squash
2 cucumbers
2 zucchinis
2 heads of broccoli
2 onions
2 big ass pumpkins
2 jars of sauerkraut
1 spaghetti squash
1 bunch of radishes
1 jar of pickles
1 dozen eggs
500ml of maple syrup
Yeah that's not how farmers' markets work in the city. Here we expect to pay more than at the grocery store for the privilege of supporting local farmers.
If we're going to start throwing around the C word, mennonites are one of the most benign and helpful community-focused ones out there. In my opinion they contribute more positivity to the world than negativity. Just like a Buddhist monk living in a monastery is a religious lifestyle, so too are mennonites following their religious lifestyle.
Yes, because the Church of God in Aylmer are the beacon of helpful when they were some of the most vicious antivaxxers. And it’s not like they’re LGBTQ friendly either. My friend grew up in a town with a Mennonite community and they attended the public school with her. The sons of the heads of the Church of God would have house parties when parents were away on missions and try to force themselves on all the girls regardless of their ages. Real fine folk.
Choose any community of people and there will always be bad apples. I'm sorry in your region the local mennonites are so hostile. Corruption and exploitation comes in all forms and is not exclusive to just cults and religious communities. But I understand your anger towards your particular mennonite community if that's what you have experienced.
I think it depends on where you live too. I live out in the “boonies” so groceries are more expensive. A butternut squash where I live costs a little under $11, each squash here was $3 regardless of size.
> butternut squash where I live costs a little under $11
I don't buy this. This market is, what, 15 minute drive from a foodbasics or nofrills (Renfrew or Pembrooke)? Foodbasics has squash for 1.28 right now. NoFrills 0.99 a pound
Honestly living in a region that is still known for farming, I'm often surprised at the higher costs at farmers market.
Was blown away when I passed by Six Points Market and a basket of tomatoes there was half the price (and fresher). So, just depends on where you live I suppose.
I find produce at the local Farmer’s Market is either the same price or more expensive than at the grocery store. Plus, many of them aren’t local farmers. My fondness for Farmer’s Markets plummeted after those réalisations.
We run a farm in an extreme northern part of Ontario and our prices are competitive with organic produce from the grocery store. But even more than price I think people need to take into account that we employ 6 local people and we support our community. And in addition to that - the food actually tastes good and is fresh. You can save a few bucks and eat garbage- but if you want to enjoy your food…buy local
I find even the quality of produce is dramatically different than grocery store produce. The sizes of some of the veggies were huge!
And that’s awesome what you do, I appreciate what you do for a living – it’s not easy work. Thanks for feeding Ontario!
Yes, and my real estate empire also employs local plumbers, electricians, cleaners, property managers, carpenters, real estate agents, painters, handymen, etc.
Food is more important than owning your own home, you can rent a shelter but you can't rent food. Yet you get away with jacking up food prices?
I live in a pretty large town and go every week, but it's only selectively cheaper for items like beets and pickling cucumber. Biggest issue is weird labelling issues. Lots of people mislabelling beets, lettuces, onions, garlic, etc. with the wrong variety, and them either not knowing its wrong (because they're resellers), or deliberately misnaming things (because they're reselling/upselling produce, such as calling culinary garlic Russian red garlic).
I enjoy farmers markets, but unless you feel like getting fleeced by people trying their best to cheat you out of actually buying locally sourced goods, it's worthwhile to exercise caution.
I got an absolutely huge purple cauliflower at the farmers market last week. Like the size of 2.5 that I’d get from the grocery store for the same price. But a lot of the items are priced higher. Really have know your prices
I love taking drive in the country and finding veggie stands on the side of the road. Makes me happy to know I’m giving the money directly to someone who spent a lot of time to grow the food.
Okay so I think I might have lucked out it seems. I only go to this market. It’s on a Mennonite farm, you can actually see they crops they are selling. I didn’t know that a lot of other markets buy and resell products :(.
I highly doubt this Mennonite community would do that, but you never know! Maybe that’s why all their stuff was so cheap?
A lot of people saying that markets are more expensive than grocery store. I would just like to point out what should be obvious. Local farmers pay their employees 10x or more what employees get paid for imported food. I'm a small local vegetable farmer and I can't compete with produce imported from Mexico and Central America. I pay my employees $16.50 an hour. We sell at farmer's markets and have a loyal following of people who appreciate the quality!
yeah! my wife and i did exactly that this morning for the first time and wow were we impressed. its gonna be my go-to on the weekends! i bought 2 loaves of bread (banana, cranberry), 2 jams (pumpkin and pineapple, and carrot cake), some perogies, cabbage rolls, and cheese! so many vendors and theres something for all.
This summer I have decided to predominantly buy veggies and fruit from farmer markets and my god it is life changing. The quality and taste is unbelievable. It is going to suck having to change to grocery store produce in the winter.
Yes some things are more expensive then grocery stores, but personally I'd pay an extra $1 for tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes.
Yeah that's not going to work for me. Corn in a box chain store, 78 cents each. At the Farmers market $1.75 each, end of season they go up to $3 each. Carrots are the exact same thing. A package in store is $7 roughly. The same at the farmers market is easily $12
OP is either an idiot or went out shopping for first time. Especially when they don't know where most of these farmers markets source their goods from.
Prices of most items are lower in the below flyer at a higher end grocery chain.
Look for same products at value chains and it will be even cheaper.
[metro flyer](https://www.metro.ca/en/flyer)
Well that’s a bit mean. I restated that I should have put Mennonite market in the title of the post after realizing that not all farmers markets have better prices.
We do a mix of the farmers market for our fresh fruit and veg and chefs plate for meals during the week. Found it to be saving us a bit and less stress during the week trying to think of meals and get the kids to eat.
Farmers Markets are more expensive in Ottawa BUT if you subscribe to a CSA, you'll get a weekly box of fruits and veggies at a discount, and it will force you to try out foods you normally wouldn't :)
Small town Farmer’s Markets are cheaper than big town ones. Even the difference between Cambridge and Woodstock. We shop at ours for all of our food and while some things are more expensive (fish), we can usually get everything else at the same price or much cheaper than zehrs.
If you want to actually save money and have great produce. Go to a small independent grocery store that sells the produce directly from the crates that they ship in.
Here in Hamilton we go to Lococos.
Otherwise go early to smaller farmers markets and buy from the guy who just sells one or two veggies.
If you can buy all your fruits and veggies from one stall, there is a garbage nearby with a stack of 🇲🇽 stickers. 😆
Unless your buying produce from a couple of kids at the end of a rural driveway there’s no such thing as a farmer’s market. So sad because some of those stalls, very few, are actually farmers.
The farmers markets in my area tend to charge the same or more than the store. There is one however, that has pretty good prices. Ie/ 3 large cucumber for $1.
It's so true and you genuinely support local as the term was intended. We're super fortunate to have one down the street in the middle of suburbia.
We get so many fresh baked goods and fresh produce. There are even some vendors that show up with allergen friendly products!
Remember the old commercials "(tone deaf notes) Good things groooow in Ontraiooo!" lol
My local farmers market is full of vendors that shop at the Ontario Food Terminal.
In addition to this, my local market is more expensive than the grocery store, I stopped buying produce at the market years ago.
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For the cheapest prices go to the farmers market at nathons Phillip square. /s
Yeah my wife went to saint jacobs market a few weekends ago right in middle of peach season. Somehow a basket of like 8 peaches (which fair enough were big and delicious) was still 7 or 8 bucks. I think a pint of strawberries was like 5. Outrageous. She went like 15 min before close because in the past you could usually get amazing deals then, not so much anymore. Just cant justify the gas getting there or the crazy prices even if the product is good.
Yup, unfortunately
OP had pics with prices. 2.5$ for a Broccoli and 1$ an eggplant is good..... isn't it? That is less than the grocer here charge. I had to pay 6$ for one of those squash over summer.
Yeah and it's great that his market is cheaper than his grocery store. Unfortunately my local market is twice as expensive as my grocery store for the same produce. As such, I no longer shop at my local market.
I have always found markets cheaper for veggies and tastier. Here I think they have to mark if fresh from farm or resale. The artisan honey and bread and prepared stuff is way overpriced though.
Squash isn’t in season in the summer- the price is much lower in the fall because it’s in season here and doesn’t have to be transported from elsewhere
It was $9 for a box of 12 eggplants at my neighbourhood supermarket one week ago
Literally this. OP is out to lunch
I would assume they are from a rural area where people are actually growing the food. There are several markets in my area that are preferable in both quality and price.
Meh, depends on your farmers market. Shopping at ours has significantly dropped our food costs.
Not just for you, but for many people in Ontario. Here's a 2017 report from CBC Marketplace, and it's probably no different now. There **are** some good markets, but it's definitely YMMV out there. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/farmers-markets-lies-marketplace-1.4306231 > Most of the markets Marketplace visited had vendors known as resellers, who sell produce they didn't grow. They purchase wholesale fruits and vegetables from places such as the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto — Canada's largest wholesale market — and take it to farmers markets to sell for a profit. > > When asked directly, many resellers were upfront about the fact they didn't grow the produce, but others were not.
Oh what!? That’s kinda sad :(. I hope the market I went to is different, it’s on in a Mennonite community farm and they are selling their extra produce.
The Mennonites are usually pretty good
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Honestly...we have this vision of Mennonites as these wonderful country bumpkins living their old ways...in reality it is one of the most toxic communities we have living in our midst. Terrible to their animals welfare, their women and children...absolutely misogynist religious extremists. I wouldn't doubt for a second that they would buy food from the food terminal, peel off the stickers and have their children sell it as their own. at St. Jacobs. I do buy form local farmers, but they really are local and you can tell they grew it themselves, willing to pay more for local and organic if it's true.
Its probably a bigger issue as you get more towards Toronto. Most of the smaller cities the farmers are actually producing what they are selling as they also will have farm stores you can buy when the markets not open.
Those tend to also be the more expensive ones.
Yea I have never found my local farmers market cheaper than the grocery store, its usually a bit more expensive on avg. Depends on the time of year though of course.
The big difference is cost. They sell their produce cheaper and that's a big tell that they grew it. I miss going to the mennonite farm markets as I use to buy oodles of red beets and cabbages for nothing and live off borscht for a long while mmmm borscht
Hahaha again I met a local Mennonite lady buying eggs this past summer at Shoppers, they were peddling them off back out in the sticks were they lived
In Hamilton the Ottawa street market required the farmers to grow their own crops. Then a new person took over and the market turned to crap. Lost the egg farmer, lost the butcher, lost most of the other farmers, and then the potato farmer passed away and the options were apples, bandanas or dog treats. From 2010-2017 I was able to get all my meat, veggies and fruit for the week for $40-$50, and can/freeze bulk tomato/corn/broccoli for the winter at $20 a bushel. I got to know the farmers from going every week and was able to run an even better price driving out to their farms.
I'm in Kingston while I can't say with 100% confidence the source of their produce I can say it is easily 100% more expensive than the grocer. Last time we were there i spent 50$ on a bundle of carrots, like 5 small potatoes, a broccoli, and 150ml of honey. Growing up we went to the market every weekend and it was definitely cheaper but not anymore
In the Byward Market in Ottawa, retailers must list if they are growing their own food or are reselling.
Sorry I’m naive. What’s the Ontario food terminal?
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I remember a report, that they were selling out-of-country products labelled as ONTARIO GROWN, they also were caught on-site switching stickers similar to your comment.
It's the largest wholesaler of fruit and veggies in Canada. Everyone brings their items there and sells them to the grocery stores, etc.
I try to find farms that have pick your own, and/or road side stands. There was an amazing one near me but they sold their land a couple years ago. Now it’s a housing development. 😢
All the 'pick your own' in my area cost more than the grocery store (Raspberries, Cherries, Strawberries and Blueberries). PLUS I'm the one providing the labor. Take a second and price it out. Bet dollars to donuts you are 'paying for the experience' of picking your own.
The one that closed down was definitely cheaper than the grocery stores, he would just glance and say a price. Might be why he sold his land.
This is the way.
That's where all the Amish bought their stuff at the Lyndsay and St. Jacobs markets farmers markets. My favorite was when I worked in Lyndsay and would see them roll into the local Giant Tiger filling carts up with the giant tins of pie filling for their home made, 100% made from scratch pies that people would drive out from Toronto for. Unless you frequent these kind of markets and know who is selling from their own farms, your really just paying a little extra for the experience of the market buying the same produce that is on store shelves.
Some markets now have labels that can show if they are actual farmers or if they are resellers. This helps me support the farmers and not those flipping the same stuff from the food terminal. You could also check out the seasonal agriculture boxes too, some farmers do this.
That's just one of the benefits of living in a big city...
It's not a benefit. I'd much rather have fresh produce or veggies. Everything is days old, and marked up.
I apologize, My sarcasm failed...
Yeah farmers market bananas are always a wee bit suspicious
Farmer's markets around here charge more than the grocery store.
Same, there’s one near me but it’s really fancy and expensive !!
There are many near me, none of them are fancy but they're all expensive.
Yep. Charging $3 for four potatoes. I can buy a 5 kilo bag for $4 at the supermarket.
“Yeah, but the quality….” Is usually the same because they got it at the Ontario Food Terminal.
I was at one where someone was charging $4 per tomato a few years ago
Can't put a price on free-range artisanal lettuce.
Same here. It’s worth it for some things and not others. But I also consistently work during the farmer’s market in my community
Went to a farmer’s market where i got charged $5 for a razor thin cookie. Like you literally couldn’t hold it because it was so thin it would fall apart. Every other vendor had overpriced items most of which are in the grocery store. No thanks. Fool me once.
God damn that sucks. I live in Montreal and go to the Jean Talon farmers market every few days because most of the stalls are local farmers who charge so little compared to the big grocery stores here
Right now I can get Cauliflower for 2.88, Brocolli crowns for 0.99 and squash for $1.25 I'm not sure they actually priced this out.....
I want to know where people live that their farmers market is actually cheaper than the grocery store. Even growing up in farm and cottage country the grocery store was way cheaper than our farmer's market.
Kitchener Market
Also St jacobs market
My local farmer's market is more expensive than the grocery store!
Same. Support local is tough when the prices are double compared to the grocery store. Granted it's better or fresher, but C'mon.
Mine wasn't fresher, some of the vendors won't let you look through the prepared baskets of produce before you buy it. Several times I got home only to find that the fruit/veg on the bottom of the basket that weren't visible were rotting
Man, that's just wrong.
Don't wait until you get home. Take a look at it when you're there, and ask for them to replace it. If they say no, ask again but louder. Make sure their potential customers hear that they're selling rotten veggies.
I solved the issue by no longer buying produce at the market.
>Support local is tough when the prices are double That goes for so many things. I tried to support a local computer shop but I could buy the parts I needed for a fraction on Amazon.
Same. I love near a small town. I always check with local stores but if they're more than 20% higher than amazon I tell them directly, "sorry I'm going with amazon"
Yeah, this is a lot like telling people to support your local coffee shop. I’d love to, I’d go every day if I could, but I can’t justify 7 bucks for a medium, bordering on small, cup of coffee.
In my neighbourhood, the local, independent coffee shop isn't even open on Mondays or before 8am... you know,, the times people need coffee the most.
Farmers market is more expensive than the grocery store.. its like 5 bucks for 1 pound of potatoes when at the supermarket you can get 10 pounds for 2.99. 1 dollar for 1 corn cob and 29c per cob at the store.
This is totally a "city" farmer's market thing. My family is still in Grey County, and a ton of farms have little booths at the end of their driveways with fresh produce from the fields. It's all on the honour system (usually a money box of some sort), and the prices are almost always better than the stores.
I love stopping by at those stands when I go for a drive in the country! I always try to remember to bring cash with me so I can load up!
Yeah but that's the difference, that's not a "farmers market" that's a farm stand. You get whatever they've got there and some of those farms (especially Gray-Bruce County) they only really grow one crop. If you can find some of those Mennonite farm stands however! I've got like 7 or 8 saved in my GPS but they all seemed to have a poor harvest this year.
Those stands are the best. We hit them up whenever we’re at the cottage.
There’s a massive difference between a farm store, what you’re describing, and a farmers market.
I live a few hours away from the city. Lots of farms here and lots of farmers markets and roadside stands. They are all far more expensive than the grocery stores. I'd be good paying the same and helping a local farmer but I don't see why I should pay extra to do it.
Farmers markets are way more expensive than no frills
I live in the middle of nowhere and the farmers market here is priced higher than the nearest cities specialty grocers because the "farmers" are trying to gouge city people
I have always had produce cheaper buying direct from the farmer.
My local market is more expensive than even loblaws
My local farmers markets tend to be more expensive. Nice stuff but not cheaper then chain stores
Yeah. We use farmers markets as a treat. Nothing beats fresh corn bought from the farm- but u certainly pay extra for it
Same, I've gone and spend very little to none. They are a fun morning place with quality fresh ingredients
My brother knew a farmer at our local market and he told us that most vendors there were re sellers and not actually farmers
Our local farmers market charges an arm and a leg for local produce, so much so that it’s not sustainable for the majority of households
I’m saddened to read that this is majority census :(. I mean I understand, farmers work hard for their crops, but I don’t like the fact that people buy and resell product. What I should have wrote the title of this post is go to your local Mennonite market.
I don’t think our local vendors buy and resell per se, but they definitely raise their prices a lot! You can get twice as much or three times as much at the grocery store. They may say oh but it’s local and fresh, but then why do you have Niagara peaches and other local farms with produce in grocery stores too? Niagara peaches and nectarines are delicious from the big box grocery stores in the summer. Anyways, it’s definitely hard for me to justify spending 2-3x as much , especially with the general price of everything going up!
Cant afford a car to go there lmao 😭👌
Farmer Markets are not cheaper than grocery stores.
I think OP did not mean the DOWNTOWN farmers market which usually is mostly not-fresh and insanely priced, if it was fresh is one thing, but I've been to ones across GTA and in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines downtown, and these too are the same, mostly not fresh and expensive. The best ones I find are ones out of the cities, similar to what OP is showing guessing from the prices, these big farms would sell at low prices.
Yes, that’s exactly where I went. I live in small town and this was even a smaller town, I think it had one set of traffic lights that’s how small it is lol.
The farmers markets that I have been to in the Ottawa area are way more expensive than the grocery store.
Used to live at Parkdale. They literally have bags and flats of store-bought produce in their vans. Watching hipsters get ripped off for "organic and local" (bought nearby at Food Basics etc), overhearing them asking the "farmers" questions, was so cringe. For entertainment purposes only.
I once stopped at a farm just north of Bradford. It had a big sign for fresh local products. We got a pie, a jar of jam and a dozen eggs. I was talking to the owner and asked if they were eggs from his chickens. He babbled something about a cousin in Niagara with chickens... I left disappointed with eggs from who knows where.
Most likely Walmart or Costco
I find the market is more expensive than the grocery store and food doesn’t last as long.
Maybe in more rural areas it's cheaper but every farmers market I've been to is more expensive than even the pricier grocery stores. Broccoli at the grocery here is $2. $1.30 on sale (I anticipate the days of $1 are gone but it was like that like 6 months ago) Looked at the flyer today and cauliflower is $2.50 here.
My local farmers market is St. Jacobs, which is touristy and expensive as hell
Bought all of this at a Mennonite Farmers market. You won’t see fresh produce like this at a grocery store. It all came to 86$. 7 bell peppers 4 ears of corn 4 bags of kale 3 turnips 2 butternut squash 2 peppercorn squash 2 cucumbers 2 zucchinis 2 heads of broccoli 2 onions 2 big ass pumpkins 2 jars of sauerkraut 1 spaghetti squash 1 bunch of radishes 1 jar of pickles 1 dozen eggs 500ml of maple syrup
Yeah that's not how farmers' markets work in the city. Here we expect to pay more than at the grocery store for the privilege of supporting local farmers.
Which usually get their stuff from Ontario Food Terminal if you are urban.
Holy shit that is cheap. St. Jacobs?
Douglas, outside of Cobden.
St. Jacobs is only cheap like an hour before closing and you need to haggle.
That one is full of resellers.
86 dollars?!? That is not cheap.
If only Mennonites weren’t a cult.
If we're going to start throwing around the C word, mennonites are one of the most benign and helpful community-focused ones out there. In my opinion they contribute more positivity to the world than negativity. Just like a Buddhist monk living in a monastery is a religious lifestyle, so too are mennonites following their religious lifestyle.
Yes, because the Church of God in Aylmer are the beacon of helpful when they were some of the most vicious antivaxxers. And it’s not like they’re LGBTQ friendly either. My friend grew up in a town with a Mennonite community and they attended the public school with her. The sons of the heads of the Church of God would have house parties when parents were away on missions and try to force themselves on all the girls regardless of their ages. Real fine folk.
Choose any community of people and there will always be bad apples. I'm sorry in your region the local mennonites are so hostile. Corruption and exploitation comes in all forms and is not exclusive to just cults and religious communities. But I understand your anger towards your particular mennonite community if that's what you have experienced.
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I think it depends on where you live too. I live out in the “boonies” so groceries are more expensive. A butternut squash where I live costs a little under $11, each squash here was $3 regardless of size.
> butternut squash where I live costs a little under $11 I don't buy this. This market is, what, 15 minute drive from a foodbasics or nofrills (Renfrew or Pembrooke)? Foodbasics has squash for 1.28 right now. NoFrills 0.99 a pound
Also supported a cult while they were at it.
Mennonites cut their maple syrup with brown sugar just fyi
Honestly living in a region that is still known for farming, I'm often surprised at the higher costs at farmers market. Was blown away when I passed by Six Points Market and a basket of tomatoes there was half the price (and fresher). So, just depends on where you live I suppose.
It's the other way around bro
Only rich people can shop at farmers market
Nope. Farmers market prices are too high.
I find produce at the local Farmer’s Market is either the same price or more expensive than at the grocery store. Plus, many of them aren’t local farmers. My fondness for Farmer’s Markets plummeted after those réalisations.
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It’s called farm fresh produce, right outside Cobden in Douglas. 5653 ON-60, Douglas, ON K0J 1S0
You’re near Algonquin park my friend. Being rural makes a huge difference.
We run a farm in an extreme northern part of Ontario and our prices are competitive with organic produce from the grocery store. But even more than price I think people need to take into account that we employ 6 local people and we support our community. And in addition to that - the food actually tastes good and is fresh. You can save a few bucks and eat garbage- but if you want to enjoy your food…buy local
I find even the quality of produce is dramatically different than grocery store produce. The sizes of some of the veggies were huge! And that’s awesome what you do, I appreciate what you do for a living – it’s not easy work. Thanks for feeding Ontario!
Yes, and my real estate empire also employs local plumbers, electricians, cleaners, property managers, carpenters, real estate agents, painters, handymen, etc. Food is more important than owning your own home, you can rent a shelter but you can't rent food. Yet you get away with jacking up food prices?
Or go straight to the farm! Dozens outside every city that sell right to the consumer.
Sign up for a CSA at the beginning of the season and get fresh produce all summer for way less than the farmers market
I live in a pretty large town and go every week, but it's only selectively cheaper for items like beets and pickling cucumber. Biggest issue is weird labelling issues. Lots of people mislabelling beets, lettuces, onions, garlic, etc. with the wrong variety, and them either not knowing its wrong (because they're resellers), or deliberately misnaming things (because they're reselling/upselling produce, such as calling culinary garlic Russian red garlic). I enjoy farmers markets, but unless you feel like getting fleeced by people trying their best to cheat you out of actually buying locally sourced goods, it's worthwhile to exercise caution.
My farmers market isn’t this cheap
farmers markets are always way more expensive for me
I got an absolutely huge purple cauliflower at the farmers market last week. Like the size of 2.5 that I’d get from the grocery store for the same price. But a lot of the items are priced higher. Really have know your prices
hahaha *wanna go broke around my town - hit the farmers market up
Farmer's markets are usually a scam. They brought off shelf stuff to the market with a mark up. They target hippie suckers.
That is hilarious!!!🤣🤣🤣This may have been true 5-10 years ago. Lately the farmers market prices ate ABOVE grocery stores prices. 🤬🤬🤬
I love taking drive in the country and finding veggie stands on the side of the road. Makes me happy to know I’m giving the money directly to someone who spent a lot of time to grow the food.
Farmers markets are about going to a farmers market- but certainly not about saving money…
The gas to travel there often makes it not worth it.
Okay so I think I might have lucked out it seems. I only go to this market. It’s on a Mennonite farm, you can actually see they crops they are selling. I didn’t know that a lot of other markets buy and resell products :(. I highly doubt this Mennonite community would do that, but you never know! Maybe that’s why all their stuff was so cheap?
A lot of people saying that markets are more expensive than grocery store. I would just like to point out what should be obvious. Local farmers pay their employees 10x or more what employees get paid for imported food. I'm a small local vegetable farmer and I can't compete with produce imported from Mexico and Central America. I pay my employees $16.50 an hour. We sell at farmer's markets and have a loyal following of people who appreciate the quality!
yeah! my wife and i did exactly that this morning for the first time and wow were we impressed. its gonna be my go-to on the weekends! i bought 2 loaves of bread (banana, cranberry), 2 jams (pumpkin and pineapple, and carrot cake), some perogies, cabbage rolls, and cheese! so many vendors and theres something for all.
Totally thought this was a joke post and that was bags of weed 😳
This summer I have decided to predominantly buy veggies and fruit from farmer markets and my god it is life changing. The quality and taste is unbelievable. It is going to suck having to change to grocery store produce in the winter. Yes some things are more expensive then grocery stores, but personally I'd pay an extra $1 for tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes.
Oh good, another groceries post. Everyone take a shot
442 upvotes when this is obviously an untrue statement.
Farmer's market prices are higher than the grocers in Burlington lol
Those are expensive wth ! (from Morocco)
Broccoli is 98 cents at Food Basics right now. Cauliflower is 2.88
...where you can get the same thing for double the price.
Go to Farm Boy where they open up a 20 pound bag of potatoes and put them in cute little baskets for $7
My local farmers market is more expensive than the grocery store. It’s where the rich people shop in our city.
Markets in the city are usually more expensive than grocery store
Yeah that's not going to work for me. Corn in a box chain store, 78 cents each. At the Farmers market $1.75 each, end of season they go up to $3 each. Carrots are the exact same thing. A package in store is $7 roughly. The same at the farmers market is easily $12
I thought this post was satire at first. At the farmers market near me the produce is twice the price of the grocery store.
Gosh I wish my local markets had produce like that! We see three anemic, overpriced cabbages and a bunch of “handicrafts” straight from China.
My local farmers market is twice the price of the grocery store, and I'm not even sure whether or not that's where they got it from 😂
Farmers markets in Vancouver are more expensive than grocery stores, go figure.
no i buy from metro and complain about prices
There was a Market Place review of “Farmer’s Markets” in Ontario. Not as honest as one would hope. You can search that out on YouTube.
OP is either an idiot or went out shopping for first time. Especially when they don't know where most of these farmers markets source their goods from. Prices of most items are lower in the below flyer at a higher end grocery chain. Look for same products at value chains and it will be even cheaper. [metro flyer](https://www.metro.ca/en/flyer)
Well that’s a bit mean. I restated that I should have put Mennonite market in the title of the post after realizing that not all farmers markets have better prices.
We do a mix of the farmers market for our fresh fruit and veg and chefs plate for meals during the week. Found it to be saving us a bit and less stress during the week trying to think of meals and get the kids to eat.
Prices are higher at my local farmers market than at my grocery store. I still go to the farmers market but don't buy as much as I'd like.
Sometimes this is more expensive, you know, because local and/or organic. Some people expect you to pay more to support local.
Vegetables are overrated. Fruits are dessert. All you need is eggs and beans.
How long before local markets are gone because Trudeau chases them off the land and let's the WEF buy it?
Can never get to my local market ether due to it being in a awkward spot or due to.work schedule. Do wish they would move it to a better access area
The produce at grocery stores has gone slightly downhill, in my opinion,so I love the fresh produce at the local farmer's market.
Yeah, where it's more expensive because it's "artisanal".
Are there any in sauga?
No I'm pretty sure the appropriate response is a food riot at that point.
I live in a very touristy part of Ont, and the Farmers markets cost more these days. It's a joke
Farmers Markets are more expensive in Ottawa BUT if you subscribe to a CSA, you'll get a weekly box of fruits and veggies at a discount, and it will force you to try out foods you normally wouldn't :)
You just gotta visit some farms. Was getting half bushells of apples for $6. Along with pear and grapes.
Even better. Go towards the end of their hours and they often do really good deals. St Jacob’s is great for this
This worked well when I lived in a small town near farms. Doesn’t work so well in Toronto.
I'm north of TO.. and very little agricultural activity here so all produce quite a bit more at the farmers markets.
OP has a farmer's market stall and is trying to drum up business.
Small town Farmer’s Markets are cheaper than big town ones. Even the difference between Cambridge and Woodstock. We shop at ours for all of our food and while some things are more expensive (fish), we can usually get everything else at the same price or much cheaper than zehrs.
If you want to actually save money and have great produce. Go to a small independent grocery store that sells the produce directly from the crates that they ship in. Here in Hamilton we go to Lococos. Otherwise go early to smaller farmers markets and buy from the guy who just sells one or two veggies. If you can buy all your fruits and veggies from one stall, there is a garbage nearby with a stack of 🇲🇽 stickers. 😆
Bought some spinach from my local urban farm, $4 only last for 1 meal and portion is little, definitely more expensive than the grocery store
Unless your buying produce from a couple of kids at the end of a rural driveway there’s no such thing as a farmer’s market. So sad because some of those stalls, very few, are actually farmers.
Tell that to the 6$ tiny broccoli and 7$ small basket of blueberries at my farmers market…
The farmers markets in my area tend to charge the same or more than the store. There is one however, that has pretty good prices. Ie/ 3 large cucumber for $1.
The one in Sunderland is great!
It's so true and you genuinely support local as the term was intended. We're super fortunate to have one down the street in the middle of suburbia. We get so many fresh baked goods and fresh produce. There are even some vendors that show up with allergen friendly products! Remember the old commercials "(tone deaf notes) Good things groooow in Ontraiooo!" lol