SitemapOver the past quarter century, the number of farmers markets – both in the Mahoning Valley and across the country – has taken off.
Consumers have turned away from produce grown on the opposite side of the country or in foreign soil to food grown right down the road.
The reasons buyers and farmers cite for this shift are simple. People want fresher foods. They want to know who’s growing what they put in their mouths. They want to support the local economy.
“Some of it’s philosophical,” says Steve Gyomber, owner of Ginger Gorge Organics in Greene Township.
“We’ve lost the local farmer who grows all your vegetables. We all want to know where it’s coming from and how it’s grown,” Gyomber says.
Farmers markets have sprung up in almost every municipality in the Mahoning Valley, from Austintown to Warren. With the surge of opportunities, more and more growers are finding their way into the circuit, selling everything from traditional produce such as lettuce, tomatoes and corn to foodstuffs less commonly found at farmers markets, such as mushrooms and homemade candies.
For some, traveling to these markets is a hobby. For others, it’s a full-time job.
Either way, almost all farmers say that there’s nothing they’d rather do than sell what they plant, tend and pluck from the vine.
“We grow what we’d want to eat,” says Brooke Lancey, co-owner of 3 Maples on Market in North Lima. “Every year it got bigger. Just sharing it with our families blew up into trying out these markets.”
Along with Lancey and Gyomber, The Business Journal talked to six other farmers, bakers and confectioners to assemble a collage of who’s manning the booths at the farmers markets held daily throughout the region.
They come from all walks of life, from students to teachers, from former factory workers to lifelong farmers.
All have one thing in common: They love what they do.
To read the full story on businessjournaldaily.com, click here.