Business

Local markets

Local markets facilitate the exchange of goods and services within a community. When they occupy a physical space, they are very different from the homogeneous, 'cookie-cutter' structures of the corporate global economy: they not only boost local economies, they create vital gathering spaces that reflect and support community character and cohesion.

Local markets Actions
Support local farms through your food purchases.
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Support local farms through your food purchases.

Thanks to direct and hidden subsidies, skewed regulations, unfair tax policy, and billions of advertising dollars, the global food system is heavily tilted in favor of the largest producers. Until those systemic forces are shifted, the only way that small, local producers can survive is if we recognize the multiple benefits their farms provide – to the community, the local economy, and the environment – and support them by buying what they work so hard to produce.

Take action

Get inspired

  • The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the strength and resilience of local food systems, even as global supply chains broke down. One result is that demand for CSA shares skyrocketed. Full Belly Farm in the US state of California, for example, saw a doubling of its CSA box numbers, and other CSA farms had waiting lists with hundreds of names. Read more in this story from NPR.
  • Rohit Parak writes about Navadarshanam, an alternative living community in South India that provides chemical-free, seasonal produce to residents of Bangalore on a CSA model.

Support local farms through your food purchases.

Thanks to direct and hidden subsidies, skewed regulations, unfair tax policy, and billions of advertising dollars, the global food system is heavily tilted in favor of the largest producers. Until those systemic forces are shifted, the only way that small, local producers can survive is if we recognize the multiple benefits their farms provide – to the community, the local economy, and the environment – and support them by buying what they work so hard to produce.

Take action

Get inspired

  • The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the strength and resilience of local food systems, even as global supply chains broke down. One result is that demand for CSA shares skyrocketed. Full Belly Farm in the US state of California, for example, saw a doubling of its CSA box numbers, and other CSA farms had waiting lists with hundreds of names. Read more in this story from NPR.
  • Rohit Parak writes about Navadarshanam, an alternative living community in South India that provides chemical-free, seasonal produce to residents of Bangalore on a CSA model.
Set up a farmers market.
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Set up a farmers market.

Farmers markets that sell local and sustainably-produced food play a key role in maintaining and rebuilding healthy, diverse and resilient local food systems. These markets allow producers to receive a dignified income, provide high-quality food at a reasonable price, create local spaces for sharing and celebration, and bridge gaps between urban and rural dwellers, while benefiting the wider local economy.

Take action

Get inspired

  • The Stoke Newington Farmers' Market in London, UK, is a year-round weekly farmers market selling food purely from local small-scale sustainable producers. The market was started in 2003 and is run by Community Growers – a local NGO that also runs a local box scheme. 
  • Feria Verde in San José, Costa Rica comprises two markets that provide organic food to over 3000 customers on a weekly basis year-round. The market provides the main income for many farming families and has its own organic participatory certification scheme. The Feria Verde has been instrumental in broadening the understanding of, and support for, organic food and farming in Costa Rica. It is also a vibrant community space that brings people together from across the political spectrum.

Set up a farmers market.

Farmers markets that sell local and sustainably-produced food play a key role in maintaining and rebuilding healthy, diverse and resilient local food systems. These markets allow producers to receive a dignified income, provide high-quality food at a reasonable price, create local spaces for sharing and celebration, and bridge gaps between urban and rural dwellers, while benefiting the wider local economy.

Take action

Get inspired

  • The Stoke Newington Farmers' Market in London, UK, is a year-round weekly farmers market selling food purely from local small-scale sustainable producers. The market was started in 2003 and is run by Community Growers – a local NGO that also runs a local box scheme. 
  • Feria Verde in San José, Costa Rica comprises two markets that provide organic food to over 3000 customers on a weekly basis year-round. The market provides the main income for many farming families and has its own organic participatory certification scheme. The Feria Verde has been instrumental in broadening the understanding of, and support for, organic food and farming in Costa Rica. It is also a vibrant community space that brings people together from across the political spectrum.
Join or start a bulk buying club.
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Join or start a bulk buying club.

Reduce packaging waste and emissions from shipping by joining or starting a bulk buying club: a group of people who periodically purchase food and other supplies wholesale from farms, food producers, and other suppliers. To have the greatest positive impact, choose local producers whenever possible. Otherwise, try to build direct relationships with trusted organic and fair-trade suppliers.

Take action

  • Start a buying club with Start a Buying Club's detailed guide.
  • Find bulk buying suppliers and other food coop resources from Sustain's Food Coops Map (UK).
  • Use the Fair World Project's guide The New International Guide to Fair Trade Labels to distinguish authentic, transformative fair trade labels that support small-scale, ecological producers from "fair-washed" corporate co-opted labels.

Get inspired

  • Melliodora near Melbourne, Australia, has been operating a home-based food coop once a week for 20 years, offering dry goods and a Community Supported Agriculture box from the founder's garage.
  • The 350,000+ members of the Seikatsu Club in Japan order bulk supplies in groups of 8-10 households arranged into autonomous local branches. Their collective demand has established more than 600 local cooperative suppliers and catalyzed a movement for local, chemical-free food throughout the country.

Join or start a bulk buying club.

Reduce packaging waste and emissions from shipping by joining or starting a bulk buying club: a group of people who periodically purchase food and other supplies wholesale from farms, food producers, and other suppliers. To have the greatest positive impact, choose local producers whenever possible. Otherwise, try to build direct relationships with trusted organic and fair-trade suppliers.

Take action

  • Start a buying club with Start a Buying Club's detailed guide.
  • Find bulk buying suppliers and other food coop resources from Sustain's Food Coops Map (UK).
  • Use the Fair World Project's guide The New International Guide to Fair Trade Labels to distinguish authentic, transformative fair trade labels that support small-scale, ecological producers from "fair-washed" corporate co-opted labels.

Get inspired

  • Melliodora near Melbourne, Australia, has been operating a home-based food coop once a week for 20 years, offering dry goods and a Community Supported Agriculture box from the founder's garage.
  • The 350,000+ members of the Seikatsu Club in Japan order bulk supplies in groups of 8-10 households arranged into autonomous local branches. Their collective demand has established more than 600 local cooperative suppliers and catalyzed a movement for local, chemical-free food throughout the country.
Start a public market.
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Start a public market.

Public markets are year-round, permanent spaces where local businesses can rent stalls or tables. By building public markets, we can create affordable places for entrepreneurs to sell goods, test concepts, and connect with customers, and add to the economic and cultural vibrancy of town centers.

Take action

Get inspired

  • Great Public Markets, a list by the Project for Public Spaces, shares examples of thriving public markets from Benin to Brazil to Belgium. 
  • The Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, Australia is home to more than 600 small businesses across 17 acres of market space.

Start a public market.

Public markets are year-round, permanent spaces where local businesses can rent stalls or tables. By building public markets, we can create affordable places for entrepreneurs to sell goods, test concepts, and connect with customers, and add to the economic and cultural vibrancy of town centers.

Take action

Get inspired

  • Great Public Markets, a list by the Project for Public Spaces, shares examples of thriving public markets from Benin to Brazil to Belgium. 
  • The Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, Australia is home to more than 600 small businesses across 17 acres of market space.
Start or join a local food hub.
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Start or join a local food hub.

Food hubs are initiatives that connect farmers with customers by aggregating, processing, distributing and marketing locally-grown foods. They can play a key role in boosting local food systems.

Take action

Get inspired

Start or join a local food hub.

Food hubs are initiatives that connect farmers with customers by aggregating, processing, distributing and marketing locally-grown foods. They can play a key role in boosting local food systems.

Take action

Get inspired

Start a food cooperative.
Expand Action
Start a food cooperative.

Unlike a conventional supermarket or privately-owned grocery, a consumer food cooperative is owned by those who shop there. Food cooperatives exist first and foremost to benefit the community and provide for genuine needs, not to generate profits for absentee investors or a wealthy owner class. Research shows that in comparison with conventional supermarkets, food cooperatives are better at supporting local farms and producers, spend much more of their revenue on local wages and benefits, and are more resilient.

Take action

Get inspired

  • OrganicLea is a worker-owned food cooperative in the UK with a 12-acre growing site, a community café, a market stall and a vegetable box scheme, and runs courses in growing food and cooking.
  • Rizoma Cooperative in Lisbon, Portugal is a multi-sector cooperative community grocery store that is working to help solve social and economic problems beyond just food consumption, aiming to eventually address agriculture, culture, services, and even housing.
  • The Real Food Store is a community-owned grocery store in Exeter, UK, committed to forging strong relationships with sustainable local farmers and food enterprises, and to creating a robust local supply chain that reduces the distance between farm and table.
  • Our Table is a regional co-op in Oregon, US, helping to create a resilient and interdependent local food culture. Read more in this YES! Magazine article, Local Food With a Big Twist: Super-Cooperative Takes Aim at the Corporate Food System.
  • SCOOP - The Sustainable Cooperative on the island of Jersey is a consumer-led coop that includes a farm shop, an innovative production kitchen and an inclusive cultural and educational program.
  • Cooperativa Tierra y Libertad is a network of family farms and small cooperatives working with carefully selected customers across Europe, based on the principles of mutual respect, solidarity and sustainability.

Start a food cooperative.

Unlike a conventional supermarket or privately-owned grocery, a consumer food cooperative is owned by those who shop there. Food cooperatives exist first and foremost to benefit the community and provide for genuine needs, not to generate profits for absentee investors or a wealthy owner class. Research shows that in comparison with conventional supermarkets, food cooperatives are better at supporting local farms and producers, spend much more of their revenue on local wages and benefits, and are more resilient.

Take action

Get inspired

  • OrganicLea is a worker-owned food cooperative in the UK with a 12-acre growing site, a community café, a market stall and a vegetable box scheme, and runs courses in growing food and cooking.
  • Rizoma Cooperative in Lisbon, Portugal is a multi-sector cooperative community grocery store that is working to help solve social and economic problems beyond just food consumption, aiming to eventually address agriculture, culture, services, and even housing.
  • The Real Food Store is a community-owned grocery store in Exeter, UK, committed to forging strong relationships with sustainable local farmers and food enterprises, and to creating a robust local supply chain that reduces the distance between farm and table.
  • Our Table is a regional co-op in Oregon, US, helping to create a resilient and interdependent local food culture. Read more in this YES! Magazine article, Local Food With a Big Twist: Super-Cooperative Takes Aim at the Corporate Food System.
  • SCOOP - The Sustainable Cooperative on the island of Jersey is a consumer-led coop that includes a farm shop, an innovative production kitchen and an inclusive cultural and educational program.
  • Cooperativa Tierra y Libertad is a network of family farms and small cooperatives working with carefully selected customers across Europe, based on the principles of mutual respect, solidarity and sustainability.
Voices from the field

  • Listen to Growing a Farmers Market from the Ground Up, a Local Futures podcast interview with Francisco Grau, to learn how a small group of passionate people set up a successful farmers’ market with a big impact in San José, Costa Rica.
  • The Local Futures' podcast More than Just Vegetables covers the inspiring story of the Copenhagen Food Coop, a member-owned alternative to mainstream grocery stores that allows people to not only have regular access to fresh local food, but also to make decisions about what foods the coop purchases and how the coop is run.
Policy

Resources

  • Ten Reasons to Support Farmers Markets by CUESA offers a quick overview of the many benefits of farmers markets. 
  • Farmers Market Coalition is a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening farmers markets across the USA. 
  • Funding for Farmers Markets, a guidebook from Bristol Food Producers (UK), offers tips on how to get funding to set up and run a farmers’ market, applicable beyond the UK.
  • Food Co-ops + Collectives: 3 Models of Community Food Systems (Australia) centers on three examples: a large nonprofit coop grocery store, a small coop auspiced by a local community center, and a weekly vegetable box and dry goods pickup hosted in a member’s garage.  
  • Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants, by Jon Steinman "makes a compelling case for the transformation of the grocery store aisles as the emerging frontier in the local and good food movements."
  • Sustainable Food Hubs: A route to just food from sustainable food systems, by Bella Driessen of the Food Research Collaboration, shows the fundamental role food hubs could play in transitioning to a just, agroecological food system.
  • In From Farm to Table, author Rowan Jacobsen argues that food hubs can enable the sustainable food movement to "make it much easier for local producers and consumers to find each other", and "restore the regional infrastructure that withered with the rise of the national distributors, who have little interest in working with local operations."
  • In this report, Bella Driessen explains why Sustainable Food Hubs "provide the communication, storage, and transport infrastructure necessary to facilitate short supply chains to connect more, smaller farms."