April/May 2019 53
agriculture business and market processes
makes her a sought-after guest speaker at
international conferences. Having overseen
the opening of so many markets, she knows
the economics and dynamics of successful
operations and regularly advises on state,
county and city legislation, fruit and vegetable
standards, as well as participates in
merchandising and sales workshops. One of
the factors that has made CFMA’s markets
so popular is the informational activities
Hayden’s team runs at their markets.
HEALTH-FOCUSED MARKETS HERE TO STAY
“We’ve done demos where we’ve taught
people how to make 20 different salad dressings
in 10 minutes,” she reports. “We’ve
explained the difference between a GMO
and hybrid fruit. We’ll do a demo tasting
an apple grown in the mountains versus an
apple that grows in the valley. They taste different.
People love the tastings—apple tastings,
tomato tastings,” she proudly notes.
Hayden’s role as the California farmers
market doyenne has turned her avocation
into a family business. Her husband Doug,
a former PG&E marketer, is now part of
CFMA along with their daughter Kayla,
who “grew up in the markets.”
The Bay Area resident can rattle off just
about any statistic needed when it comes
to farmers markets. How big does a town
need to be to support a farmers market?
“We know we’re looking at two or three
percent of the population that has the propensity
to go out of their way on Saturday
morning to go get their food. If you have
a town of 100,000 people, you’re going to
have a market attracting 3,000 people,” she
explains. With so many markets already
in the Bay Area, will the trend diminish?
“They’ve been asking me that for 35 years,”
she says. “I think we’re past the trend point
but we’re also past the growth point. We
have flattened out but I think the existing
markets are here to stay.”
Hayden believes the future will see higher
percentages of city residents shopping at
farmers markets. “It will increase as there’s
more awareness that people don’t want preservatives
in their food,” she opines. Also,
“There’s the whole European thing of going
to the market every day to get fresh things.
The grocery stores just can’t compete on
corn, tomatoes—for anything that ripens
on a plant or on a tree, they can’t compete
because they’re driving 1,500 miles around
to different warehouses (as their source). If
you’re a foodie and you want good flavor,
you’re going to a market.”
Farmers market shoppers quickly become
passionate about their market, says
Hayden. She recalls the time a few years
back when city administrators in Mountain
View wanted to close the hugely popular
market there on Super Bowl weekend. Patrons
had a meltdown. “They said, ‘What?
You’re going to shut down our food supply
for a football game!’ The city got the message
real quick. I told them, the market is
bigger than you or me.”
When Bay Area skies were filled with
smoke last fall due to the massive wild fires,
bureaucrats wanted to close some farmers
markets, including Oakland’s beloved
Grand Lake market, telling farmers just 15
hours before the market was to open in the
morning. “The trucks were already loaded
and (the farmers) asked me, ‘What should
we do?’ I said, go anyway because the people
will put a mask on and come out,” recalls
Hayden. And that’s just what happened.
Consumer devotion to local farmers markets
makes residents happy but has another
advantage, she notes. “A market anchors the
downtown. People want a market in their
town. In one study, having a market was
more important to people as a quality of
life issue than their schools,” she says. Plus,
buying directly from the farmers who grew
the crops increases consumer confidence in
the safety of what they’re eating. Explains
Hayden: “Look at the romaine lettuce
problem. People who buy romaine lettuce
at a farmers market don’t have a problem.
There’s a certificate that says which field it
came from. Consumers don’t have to trace
it around. We have not had one problem
at a market in 40 years.”
Hayden herself is surprised over her enduring
career. “I had no idea when I got
involved in this in 1979 that it would be
this long-lasting,” she says. “And now we’re
on our second generation where today’s
young mothers were in strollers when the
program started. It’s been very interesting
to see it develop.” Her belief in this new
generation of millennials is reflected in her
CFMA team, made up of young college
graduates who have traditional knowledge
in areas such as economics as well as newer
skills like social media.
“We figured out early on that this generation
isn’t like ours,” she says. While today’s
millennials might need some instruction
in food preparation, their commitment
to freshness is more prodigious than that
of their parents, she believes. Concludes
Hayden: “I’m passing the torch to the millennials.
They really get it.” n
COURTESY OF GAIL HAYDEN (2); OPPOSITE: SHUTTERSTOCK
Gail Hayden and
her daughter
Kayla, left; Gail
and her husband
Doug Hayden.