Reviews for: Jacksonville Farmers Market

To clarify, post just made is by JFM. Thank you.

Sandy, thank you for your feedback. It appears you may not have fully experienced JFM based on your comments. There are literally truck loads of Florida produce sold every day and week including citrus of every kind (e.g. Indian River), strawberries (Plant City, Starke), tomatoes, greens, cabbage, pecans, mangoes, green beans, watermelons, honey and much more. Peaches, watermelon, Vidalia onions, peanuts, pecans, blueberries & more come from Ga. & So. Carolina. Apples from No. Carolina and Va. are plentiful presently. This is just a small sample of local and regional produce sold at JFM - probably more, by several fold, than at any other venue in N.E. Florida. Yes, if product is not grown in the area or is out of season, you will find sources from elsewhere. This may be more common also due to much ethnic and specialty produce also sold at JFM. Given that JFM is open EVERY single day of the year, it is essential that customers can find what they want in one-stop shopping or the local produce volume would suffer due to less customers to move it at the levels achieved. Also, please note that we do have an organic vendor, Meteor Street Produce, on Sundays. Further, JFM has a farmers line. Most farmers come in at 4 AM and leave by noon. Only a few will retail. Most want to wholesale to JFM vendors and others and return to the farm as they cannot afford to be at JFM 7 days a week to sell vs. running their farms. We agree, JFM is likely the best priced produce in Florida, with media surveys & customer reports showing prices up to 70+% below even Walmart, Sams and Costco, not to mention conventional grocery and produce outlets. Regarding other area markets, we note that the many of their vendors are buying from JFM wholesalers (as do many of Jacksonville's finest restaurants, caterers, and chefs) and charging higher prices for their efforts. Regarding quality, over 1 million shoppers buy at JFM over the course of a year and we get almost no complaints about quality, service or vendors. When we are made aware of an issue, as can occur with a natural product like produce, our vendors fully stand behind their sales or they don't stay at JFM very long. Given some vendors are 4th generation, they must be satisfying their customers (some of which are also th generation!). Please note, too, that JFM is composed of dozens of individual vendors and it is unfair to generalize about their businesses. If we have repeat complaints about a vendor, they must "shape up or ship out". We encourage you to discuss any concerns with our manager if you feel there are opportunities to improve JFM. JFM just celebrated 75 years as Florida's oldest public farmers market and we want to continue to do so for many years beyond. JFM is operated as community service and depends on the support of you and others to enable our many family and local small business operators to continue selling local, ethnic, and specialty produce and other foods and plants. Thank you for your consideration and we hope to see you back. :)

Richard & Deborah, on behalf of Jacksonville Farmers Market, we appreciate your comments & are sorry you have not found what you are looking for. We have responded to previous posters on this board and posted on our Facebook page under the "Frequent Questions" tab, how JFM works. We do sell more "local" produce than probably any other venue in the region. It only makes sense to do so when it is available for the obvious reasons of less freight, freshness, & access. How much local we sell is not readily apparent because, we agree, our vendors don't do a great job of letting customers know how much they sell via prominent labeling even though we urge them to do so. By the way, there is much discussion about what "local" really is. We define it as the closest source at the time for a ready supply of that item. We are fortunate to have the variety of product grown between south Florida's tropical weather & the temperate weather of north Florida through the southeastern U.S. Due to urban sprawl, the variety of large production growing in the immediate area appears to continue to decline. However, we invite all local growers to contact us to sell at JFM. We have invited those we know of but find they don't want to sell at a full time market due to lack of personnel to shift from farming to selling and/or inability to produce enough product to sell the volume JFM customers demand. There is a reason "boutique" farms usually sell only for a few hours, once a week. If you have preferred farmers/vendors you want to see at JFM, we ask that you introduce/refer them to our managers, Greg or Mitch (904-354-2821), as we would welcome them. They do have the flexibility to rent for whatever days they chose. We do not have a minimum rental period. Also, you should note we have reached out to members of the "slow growth/local" organizations in this area but been unable to secure tangible results from their contacts. Perhaps you can assist there, as well. Above & beyond, to be open every day of the year to attract up to 25,000 weekly visitors to support local purchasing, we do foster an entrepreneurial environment allowing vendors to sell whatever the public demands, provided it is a quality product based on the standards of the market place. We are inundated with comments from satisfied customers who say JFM product equals or exceeds that found in stores. Many heirloom varieties sold at JFM can be found nowhere else. We also have much demand for products not grown locally, ethnic & specialty products from other parts of the world, & for a continuous supply of items when they are out of season or have impaired crop yields locally. Satisfying this demand is critical to keep customers coming back in sufficient volumes to support "local" purchases. We realize your standards may differ from this & we now have vendors working toward appealing more toward your perspective, such as Meteor Street Produce, our organic/all-local vendor. It is most important that you & others posting similar comments on this board actively patronize Meteor and like vendors as they need maximum encouragement. This is because, despite much discussion of organic/local, the vast majority of the public is struggling to simply afford healthy produce on any level. They greatly appreciate the options to shop JFM at up to 70+% while getting unbelievable selection & quality produce (regardless of its source). When people open their wallets, the numbers willing to pay for your standards has not proven great enough to sustain selling great amounts of those items. This, clearly, contributes to the lack of availability of the items you are looking for. More people like you shopping JFM, not less, is the best way to ensure more organic/local. We disagree that our nominal rent (infrequently adjusted - starting at less than $20 a day for weekly or multi-stall rentals - that includes 7% sales tax, garbage service, rental space, advertising, parking, cleaning, maintenance, overhead, etc.) is an obstacle, but rather a great opportunity for business start-ups as evidenced by the dozens of small start-up businesses thriving at JFM & record occupancy currently. We would like to invite you to contact us to further discuss your views and how we might work together with you & others like you to achieve more of your vision. JFM is operated as a community service & will only survive with support of same. Thank you.

Johnny, on behalf of Jacksonville Farmers Market, we appreciate your feedback. We have responded to similar comments by a subsequent poster posting on July 31, 2013, and ask that you refer to that for JFM's response. We hope you will accept our offer to contact us to assist in attracting more vendors of the type you wish to see at JFM. Thank you.

Robert, on behalf of Jacksonville Farmers Market, we appreciate your feedback. FYI, most government markets allow only product sold at their markets to be grown within their jurisdictions. This severely limits the attractiveness of their markets to large volumes of customers & impairs the opportunities they have to sell "local" produce. We have confirmed this in conversations with retail vendors at state farmers markets. With ongoing efforts to require produce traceability, labeling on produce is greatly expanding. We have not found evidence that our vendors are misrepresenting their produce, especially given that the packaging and/or labeling is clearly evident in most cases. They may not have all the answers to your questions beyond what is labeled, and if you are not satisfied, we agree, you should not buy until you are satisfied. Based on press reports, we don't believe that this issue is limited to JFM. Our vendors may just be more honest about not knowing all the details you wish to know. To elaborate further on JFM, we have responded to similar comments by a subsequent poster posting on July 31, 2013, and ask that you refer to that for JFM's response. You will note that all "local" vendors are welcome at JFM. We hope you will accept our offer to contact us to assist in attracting more vendors of the type you wish to see at JFM. Thank you.

I completely agree with you! I was very disappointed when I went with my husband for the same reason! However, I have read on here and on Facebook that there is an Organic Produce supplier now. Meteor Street Produce. They have a page on here as well as on Facebook. They are also at other farmers markets around town. I see them at the King Street Farmers Market in Riverside on Wednesdays from 4-7 or 8.

Carleen, I am replying to your review on behalf of the Jacksonville Farmers Market. We are, of course, disappointed you did not find what you were looking for. However, the Jacksonville Farmers Market is not a "local only" market even though it sells huge volumes of local products. This is because, if it was limited to local only, it could not be open everyday of the year to support our local farmers. The Jacksonville Farmers Market, for over 70 years, has offered year round, one-stop shopping. As such, most shoppers expect not just local products, but products from all over that may not be always in-season locally or even grown in this area. The availability of such products allows vendors to generate far more traffic year round (over 25,000 shoppers a week) so that there is always a substantial outlet for local farmers whenever they wish to sell. [We are always looking to get the word out to ever more local growers of the service that the Jacksonville Farmers Market can provide them and appreciate any referrals of such farmers to our manager, Greg.] It is also well known that much of what is sold at the Jacksonville Farmers Market is 50 to 70% or more cheaper than grocery stores so clearly vendors are could not sustain themselves buying from stores to resell. FYI, the wholesalers on the Jacksonville Farmers Market run many of their own tractor trailer truck fleets to source products direct from farmers around the region. They are frequently also supplying the retailers in the Market in addition to the best restaurants in Jacksonville, suburban produce stores and roadside stands, and many of those "local" vendors you may find at other area "markets". The Jacksonville Farmers Market does have a large area where local farmers do sell directly off the back of their trucks. They tend to be there more during the week and in the early hours of the day (5 AM to 10AM) as their preference is to wholesale their loads quickly and return to their farms. Other local farmers do the same on weekends. You should also be aware that both the wholesalers and retailers at the Jacksonville Farmers Market are buying direct from many farmers who don't want to sell direct to the public. Rather these farmers want to return back to their farms vs. spending long hours selling.. All of these are the real working and local family farmers, not casual farmers, that I believe you want to support. There is no other farmers market in Florida, and perhaps the Southeastern U.S., that offers farmers BOTH wholesale and retail outlets EVERY DAY of the year, from dawn to dusk, like the Jacksonville Farmers Market. In conclusion, to keep the Jacksonville Farmers Market open, it must cater to the widest range of customers. If you make the effort, you will find much local product there in the appropriate seasons. Just a few examples include tomatoes, melons, peaches, pecans, honey, potatoes, blueberries, corn, strawberries, sugar cane, etc. For those looking for a wider range of options, including ethnic and unique agricultural products not necessarily produced locally or even found in grocery stores, you, too, will find your needs met. There are also vendors who sell organics, plants, and Mayport seafood (one is a family that owns their shrimp boats and sells their catch fresh each week at the Market). So, for those who want to truly support local, we would suggest no better way to do so on a permanent basis, than by patronizing the Jacksonville Farmers Market which is run as a community service by its owners. Hopefully, with continued patronage by the local community and the many tourists that visit us from around the entire Southeastern U.S., we will be around for at least another 70 years. Thank you. - Jeff

You can also fine local and sometimes organic produce at the Old City Farmers Market which takes place every Saturday morning at the St. Augustine Amphitheater on A1A South in St. Augustine. 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. I agree with your comments regarding Jacksonvilles Farmers Market. I quit going.

Hi there, I just wanted to let you know that the Beaches Green Market offers exclusively local produce, as well as other goods. I have been going for quite some time and I love it! http://beacheslocalfoodnetwork.web.officelive.com/greenmarket.aspx

I am responding to a post implying the Jacksonville Farmers Market is more wholesale than retail. This is incorrect. It is actually probably about 70% retail and 30% wholesale. The retail section alone constitutes the largest selection and variety of produce in Northeast Florida, usually at prices over 50% LESS than grocery stores and other retailers. Organic, ethnic, local, exotic, specialty, and unique produce and agricultural products are available to the public EVERY day of the year from dawn to dusk. The wholesale section supplies volume users such as the finest area restaurants and chefs, caterers, area produce retailers and roadside stands, and other volume users. Farmers sell both sides of the market. Some farmers sell direct and others through permanent vendors so they can return back to the farm.

This review and the next few pages of reviews seem to be more about the Riverside Arts Market on Saturdays and not the "Farmers Market" (mostly wholesale market) that is on Beaver Street. They are very different!

I agree; just moved back here, very depressing.