The new downtown Morgan Hill Thursday night farmers’ market has only been open for two weeks, and has already drawn the ire of its firmly established cross-block Saturday morning competitor.
In a letter dated Oct. 30, the directors of the California Farmers Markets Association, which has run the Saturday market in the Depot Street Caltrain parking lot since 1994, said there’s not enough room for two farmers’ markets in Morgan Hill.
The Thursday event, brought to town by the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, “disregards hard working farmers” who might feel financial pressure to attend both markets, the letter states.
The letter was addressed to West Coast Farmers Markets, the organization which runs the Thursday market from 3 to 7 p.m. in the parking lot of the former Simple Beverages store.
The MHDA has tried to establish a Thursday night market for several months to offer a variety of activity downtown during the week and draw visitors to take advantage of the fresh produce, seasonal live entertainment and extended store hours, according to the MHDA.
But CFMA directors Doug and Gail Hayden have a less rosy view of the new competitor on the block.
The pair threatened to urge its 300 vendors who participate in CFMA’s 13 farmers’ markets around the Bay Area to boycott Morgan Hill’s Thursday market. They also threatened to “proceed with legal remedies.”
However, Gail Hayden told the Times that CFMA will probably not pursue legal action and they have not asked anyone to boycott the Thursday market.
“Some of (the vendors) have been out there for 28 years” at the Saturday market, she said. “They feel a lot of allegiance to the town, and to the people in the town. They were startled. Usually if a town is going to do a second farmers’ market, they’ll have it across town – not a block away.”
The Haydens sent another letter with a similar message to Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate, expressing their “sincerest displeasure” in the City’s role in permitting the Thursday market.
Hayden said it’s a matter of “respect” for the farmers and the work they do.
“They know not to dilute their sales,” she continued. “It’s very hard work for them to make two trips” to Morgan Hill every week.
WCFM Executive Director Jerry Lami said the CFMA’s message is clear.
“They don’t want any competition from a second market,” said Lami, who revered Hayden as the “godmother” of California farmers’ markets. “They’re trying to intimidate their farmers from working with me.”
Lami also disagrees with Hayden’s assertion that Morgan Hill does not need a second farmers’ market. “People eat more than one day a week,” he said.
The CFMA, established in 1994, is a nonprofit organization. The Saturday market in Morgan Hill was started by local farmers in 1985, but CFMA took over some time after it was founded.
WCFM was established in 2011, and Lami said they are working on establishing nonprofit status. The organization runs markets in 10 communities in the South Bay, including Morgan Hill as of last week.
The brewing dispute sheds a light on how farmers’ markets have evolved from homespun, grassroots markets run exclusively by local growers, to revenue-driven ventures run by organizations that are striving for a market share just like companies in any other industry, according to sources.
“In a nutshell, (the CFMA) is as responsible as anybody for turning the farmers’ market business from something that was just a loosely knit group of farmers getting together to sell their products locally, into a popular and vital business,” MHDA President Brad Jones said. “They are being bullies to both their farmers and the communities they work in.”
MHDA Manager Raquel Crowell said the MHDA tried to contact Hayden by phone and e-mail this summer to see if CFMA would be interested in running a Thursday market, but the MHDA never heard back from CFMA.
Hayden said she never received any such emails or voicemails, but the CFMA would have “explored” the idea of a second market in Morgan Hill.
Andy Mariani, who has grown cherries and stone fruits in his Morgan Hill orchard since the 1950s, said the result of the industry’s transformation is a sacrifice in quality and localness of the produce offered at markets.
“The associations that run the farmers’ markets, they’re not really looking for quality,” Mariani said. “There’s a profit motive there, as opposed to just getting quality, and local. At the farmers’ market, everybody has this perception that it’s all local, but it’s not.”
Mariani was not aware of the rivalry between the two Morgan Hill markets.
Mariani had a booth at the Saturday market one year a long time ago, but with his own permanent fruit stand on his farm he felt like attending the market was “defeating the purpose.”
Lami said of the 15 vendors signed up so far for the Thursday market, Morgan Hill growers are “not prevalent” because the winter is not their typical season. Uesugi Farms, which has facilities in Morgan Hill and Hollister, has shown interest in gaining a booth in the spring to sell strawberries, Lami added.
The Saturday market, which runs year-round from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., currently features about 30 vendors from as far away as Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Salinas and the Central Valley, according to CFMA staff.
Hayden didn’t know exactly how many of the Saturday market vendors are from South County.
A few communities in northern California have two weekly farmers’ markets, but they are typically run by the same organization, Hayden explained. The CFMA runs two weekly markets in Concord.
Individual vendors at farmers’ markets pay a fee to the organization for a booth, Lami explained. The organization covers costs such as permits and rent for the market site.
Both of the Morgan Hill farmers’ markets are on public property. WCFM pays $250 per month plus utilities in rent, in addition to about $850 annually in permits and fees, according to City staff.
The Saturday market does not pay rent to use the Caltrain parking lot, but it pays about $1,300 annually in permits and fees, City staff said.
The mayor said he supports the MHDA’s goal of trying to liven up downtown with an evening farmers’ market. He also praised the Saturday market for its longevity and offerings.
But he said the City can’t interfere with the free market.
“Restaurants (for example) compete against each other. I don’t know how we can overrule competition,” Tate said.
