> It mystifies me that they aren't more commonly used and have a reputation as being for rich hipsters

Are there many farmers markets open for the second shift worker getting off at, say, 10pm?

The one here is open Saturday morning and Wednesday afternoon.

I guess a large chunk of people are able to make one or the other, but it also won't work all that well as an only source of produce.

Depends on where you live. Within very easy driving distance from me (or a rigorous bicycle ride) are farmers markets that, put together, are open from 8:30AM to 6:30PM. If you're working the second shift (lucky you, I only ever got first or third) you'll have no problem being able to get to one of those at least once a week.

They’re for rich hipsters because they’re very expensive, rarely open, and very small. In SF, vegetables at farmers markets and Whole Foods are 2-5x the cost compared to any Chinese grocery like New Mei Wah

in sf, the civic center (heart of the city) farmers market has a lot of farms catering to asian and lower income folks. the prices are pretty comparable to new may wah. think $1 bags of a couple pounds of produce.

the alemany farmers market is also similar in terms of cost and availability of produce. not too hard to avoid the ferry building and fort mason type hipster farmers markets :) not as easy as the markets in terms of hours/access, but...

Farmer's markets aren't cheaper in sf. The quality is definitely better than whole foods - but some of the other retailers have great produce and lower costs than the farmers markets. I am not trying detract from farmer's markets as they are an important part of the ecosystem - but they are pretty bougie in town.

That's unfortunate. I suspect it's a supply-and-demand thing: SF probably has more residents per capita who want to buy from farmers' markets than anywhere else in the country, and so prices rise accordingly. That definitely isn't the case in most places though (not even Seattle), so I stand by my advice for everyone else.

Seems reasonable!

The Alemany farmer's market on Saturday morning is cheaper than anywhere else.

True but that's also all the way down in Alemany and only one farmer's market out of all the farmer's markets in the city.

People sell stuff at farmer's markets that they don't actually grow themselves. There's very little oversight.

And even if they do sell their own produce, who knows where they're growing it, or if they've had the soil tested for contaminants, or if they're being honest about pesticides and fertilizers.

Depending on where you are, the goods at a Farmer's Market might not really be any better: http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/far...

Never been to a cheaper farmer’s market in my life. I’ve lived in New York, Chicago and Baltimore. Intrigued by this concept. Can’t imagine it actually exists anywhere.

Toll roads, long driving, competition and dealing with parking and paying to set up in a high-demand area are all problems farmers face at large city markets. Go almost anywhere else and you'll indeed be surprised.

It is certainly the case in the Central Valley in California. I got great wine grapes for $1/pound as well and wonderful organic persimmons for that same price. However, that area has a bunch of actual farmers.

Those are all fairly large cities. I find, living genuinely pretty close to the farms themselves, that the farmers market around here is pretty affordable. And nicely does accept things like WIC.

Those are all big cities... Are you unable to imagine anything other than an urban environment? That's sad

Have you been making a (literal) apples to apples comparison though? I find that farmer's markets in my area (Seattle) can be cheaper than Whole Foods for organic locally sourced things in season but definitely more expensive than going to a regular grocery store.

So just take the farmers' word for it? How do you know the farmer is actually selling produce with pesticides as organic since they are more profitable?

Ask yourself: whom would you trust more? A physical person in front of you, who's whole life depends on her business or a company which is legally set-up to maximize profit?

Would you trust a random individual who may or may not even be a farmer or a business that has obtained USDA organic accreditation?

But the USDA organic accreditation doesn’t mean pesticide free unfortunately. They still use a tonne (actually more by quantity) of pesticides, and those pesticides aren’t proven to be safer. E.g. Rotenone is shown to damage mitochondria, but is fine to be dumped on “organic” crops. So sadly it’s still actually very debatable whether you’re better off going organic or not.

Edit: think of “USDA Organic” label as more of an industry marketing gimmick that allows them to triple prices, than any genuine intent to produce safer foods.

Physical people in front of you lie a lot, especially when they are desperate. I'd trust the large company more.

This was true when I lived in Georgia, but in San Francisco the farmer's markets are easily double the price of grocery stores like Safeway and Costco.

I once bought Chilean grapes at a local "farmers" market. Since then I don't go to farmer's markets.