Market Manager Jim Fenton - Marin Farmers Market

How long have you been a market manager and how long have you been with Marin Farmers Market?

I have been with the Marin Farmers Market Association for 14 years. I have been a market manager at the Civic Center for 10 years. I have also managed markets in Oakland, Hayward, Novato, Fairfax, Vacaville, and Fremont. I started as a maintenance guy, and then managed the Farmers Market Bakery then I was became a Market Manager.

What got you into the business?

That’s easy; I enjoy working to promote farming and farmers. I came out of college with strong environmental values and I felt that helping to preserve and promote agriculture was a great way to do my part to protect the world that I live in. In my time here I feel like I have done my part. I have watched small family farms thrive with their children actually staying on the farm to work markets. I have watched immigrant farm hands become citizens and seen them purchase farms of their own. In Marin the change has been quite noticeable; when I started there were four to five produce farms out there, now there are over two dozen. While I am not responsible for the growth of these farms, I feel like I have been part of a greater movement involving sustainable grown agriculture, organics, and healthy eating. This movement and the Farmers Market is about the soul staying connected with the essential elements of life - our food, our environment, our fellow human beings.

What do you like about what you do?

I enjoy helping farmers, educating people on eating healthy and promoting sustainable agriculture. We are trying, and in many ways have been successful in keeping people connected to some of the timeless treasures of nature and to each other in this busy modern world of ours.

What are the most challenging aspects of your job?

Farmers are an independent breed, they have a personal relationship with the land they work, and they have their own ideas on how the market should be run. It is our job to synthesize those ideas into a functioning market place. Who goes where, who sells what. As more farms decide to sell directly to the public, it is no longer about finding farmers to fill the market; it is about deciding who gets in and who doesn’t. I have had to make some very difficult decisions; I have had to close the door to some great farms because the market place has too much like product already. That is a huge challenge.

What is a Certified Farmers Market?

Certified Farmers Markets were set up by the state in 1977 to help protect small farming operations. The idea was to provide a place for farmers to sell their product directly to the consumer, above wholesale but below retail prices. Eliminating the middle man helps small farms survive financially, and allows farmers to sell produce that is picked at the peak of freshness, without worries of it spoiling while being stored at a wholesaler’s warehouse.

How do you maintain the balance of a market?

The balance at the market is a tricky business. You want to protect your tenured farmers while at the same time keeping your eyes open for a farmer with a unique or quality product. A market manager needs to keep and eye on the crowds and watch to see if the farmers are selling out early, if so I might look to bring in another grower. On the flip side, if the farmers don’t have good sales they start dropping out.

Run us through a typical market day.

I arrive at the Civic Center at 5 am. I then proceed to lay the entire market floor plan on the ground with chalk taking care to not put growers with similar product next to or across from each other. Then I wait for the farmers to arrive and I direct them to their spaces. Then I make sure the coffee stand has power, and the dining areas, the musicians, and the children’s entertainers are in place. I check all vendors every day to make sure they are up to the standards of the Health and Ag departments. I also provide security at the market in coordination with the Sheriffs dept. I provide information to our customers on our farmers and their products.

How do you feel after a market? What do you feel like you’ve accomplished?

Managing an operation of this magnitude in the rain or in the heat of the sun is always a physical and mental drain, but when a farmer leaves my market with an empty truck, a big wave and a smile I know we have done our job.

Why have you continued to stay with this career path?

Besides the sense of duty to create successful markets for the farmers, market has grown, the movement has grown, and it is still growing. We are working to encourage local restaurants, hospitals and schools to buy their produce from local farmers. Most importantly, we have been able to bring farmers and consumers together to have a conversation. Our job isn’t finished; this farmer’s market thing has become a life’s work.

What is the rumored Marin Center for Sustainable Agriculture?

The Center is much more than a rumor at this point. It will be a network of agricultural organizations and farmers that will have four interrelated components: a farmers market, permanent retail and wholesale sales of local food, a distribution center, and an educational farm.

What will the Center do for the future of agriculture, in particular, local farms?

This Center will bring together one of Marin’s greatest assets, its farmers, and present them to the rest of the world. We have amazing land, innovative and passionate farmers. I believe this facility will be a model for sustainable food systems and a place to experience locally grown produce and hand made artisanal foods. The benefit for the farmers will be enormous as the Center will go from being an experiment to an institution.

What other organizations/agencies do you work with? What is the basis for these relationships?

In this county we are blessed with a large number of people who believe in small farms and good food. The Marin Agricultural Land Trust has been huge in keeping the land open for farming and out of the hand of developers, opening the doors for a new generation of farmers. Marin Organic has been important in promoting Marin Agriculture locally and worldwide. These, along with many other local organizations, are working together to keep our community in touch with some of the irreplaceable bounties of nature: fresh clean produce, sustainable farms, and open space.