Investigation of farmers’ markets from the sales side

Abstract

Farmers’ market may solve many problems concerning long-distance transport. In this sales form, physical distance is reduced between the producer and the consumer, furthermore personal relationships and trust can be also established between these two actors. In addition, it provides small producers with the opportunity for producing and selling local, high-quality foods, and consumers are able to enjoy delicious, mostly local organic food products. Farmers’ market is an increasingly popular sales channel in Hungary. While in 2010 there were 100, in 2014 there were around 200 farmers’ markets, in 2017 their number increased to more than 250. The National Rural Development Program also encourages the sale of local products in this form. In this paper, a questionnaire survey was conducted with producers in the largest farmers' markets of the Transdanubian Region in Hungary, which was used to analyse the farmers’ market features of the region.