Without a market manager, no farmers’ market will be as good as it could be. Every orphan market I’ve seen would be better with a hands-on manager. Inevitably, these markets work well because one or two producers do the essential management tasks – often grudgingly and without recognition, and always without pay.

London Farmers’ Markets (LFM) organizes twelve farmers’ markets in London each week. We serve about 130 producers who make about $4 million per year at these markets. Two people staff the head office. In the office we recruit and inspect producers, secure market sites from landlords (public and private), conduct publicity, write a producer and a customer newsletter, and pass on information on marketing, hygiene, trading standards, and other relevant topics to producers. The staff also manages a team of market managers – one part-time employee for every market. LFM is a private organization funded entirely by the fees farmers pay. Fees are based on sales, with the minimum 20 pounds British sterling, rising to 95 pounds. Most farmers pay about 30 pounds per market. (The pound is worth about $1.45 at the moment, but just think of the pounds as dollars: it’s roughly accurate because the cost of living is so much higher.)
We would not dream of organizing a market without hiring a manager. Our producers will testify that after a good site, a good manager is the most important factor in a successful market.

What does a manager do?
The manager is there to enforce the rules, and the most important one is the producer-only rule. The manager must understand the market’s producer-only rule, including its exceptions, thoroughly, and be competent and authoritative enough to explain, defend, and enforce it. Otherwise the market will have no credibility with producers or consumers.

Other basic weekly duties are largely administrative: recording attendance, taking fees from the farmers, ringing the opening and closing bell. (There is strictly no selling outside market hours; this keeps all producers and customers on an equal footing, and prevents the market from starting ever earlier and finishing ever later; this in turn allows farmers to farm.)
I am more interested in the manager’s intangible duties. She has two essential roles, both of which are ambassadorial. The first is resolving disputes between producers and the second is acting as the public face of the market. These duties are broad, and they include delicate situations requiring tact.

The manager is not only a mediator between producers, but also a sounding board for producers as a group. In our case, the manager represents LFM and its policies to the producers, and, simultaneously, he is the producers’ liaison to LFM. If we don’t speak to every producer every week – and we don’t – we know the manager will report producers’ needs and opinions to us.

Acting as the public face of the market involves answering customer questions (Are you organic? Where’s the beef lady? Why can’t I buy marmalade?); liaison with local groups, including local shops and officials such as health inspectors; and publicizing the market. No publicity is better than a) signs and banners and b) leafleting a busy street during market hours. The manager also keeps a table, with market leaflets, news, information, and events for the media and the public.

Market’s best interests
Any farmers’ market consists of three parties: the producers, the community (including consumers as well as local residents and shops), and the market organizer. At a successful market, all three parties are happy. Allow one party to “take” more than its fair share from the market, and the market falls out of balance. If it remains skewed, the market fails.

Broadly speaking, the manager’s role is that of market advocate. When disputes arise between producers, consumers, or producers and consumers, the manager must be a disinterested party capable of making a fair, sound, and enforceable decision in the best interest of the market as a whole. As with criminal justice, the appearance of making a fair and enforceable decision is important too. In this way producers and consumers come to trust the market.

A good manager reflects the organizer’s commitment to a good market. At LFM, our managers are both an extension of our head office and free agents, making decisions on the spot. We endorse most decisions managers make in the field. Sometimes managers have to tell producers or consumers unpopular news. (Sorry, we don’t sell oranges. No, you can’t have more space.) Equally, managers sometimes make decisions that are more popular with producers or consumers than with LFM. We accept that, because in the long run, our goal is that each market is in balance, benefiting neither producers, the community, or LFM disproportionately. This Solomonic neutrality makes the market manager indispensable.

Perils of producer management
Some markets – very few – are well managed by a team of producers. However, it is not common to find producers willing and able to play an impartial role – they often favor themselves, or other producers who are allies. The balance of produce available at market is often a casualty of producer management, for example. Every market must aim for a range of diverse produce and for competition among producers. Producers tend to favor monopolies – of their own products, which hurts customers, and, ultimately, undermines the market. The manager is best placed to determine what mix of foods is best for the market as a whole.

Other perils of producer management:

• Only the bare necessities are done. Producers may put up signs or road blocks. But does any farmer leaflet the neighborhood? No – he’s busy selling on market day.
• Producers have to work in the off-season, attending meetings they’d rather not.
• One producer has to play secretary, doing all the market paperwork, calls, faxes.
• Customers and journalists don’t know how to make contact with the market. It has no “face.”
• Systemic changes that would benefit the whole market but no particular producer – such as adding electricity in order to include meat and dairy producers – seldom happen.
• If producers own or operate the market – an excellent organizational model – they should charge themselves a fee and spend it on a manager.

Pay for managers
We pay market managers 50 British pounds per market. Weekend markets last four hours. (Weekday markets are longer, but slower and therefore a bit less work.) The manager is expected to arrive about two hours before the market opens, and usually leaves within a half hour of the closing bell. That’s roughly seven hours of work on a weekend day—not a princely hourly wage – but usually there is some relaxed time at the market, and most managers like the atmosphere and raison d’etre of the farmers’ market, not to mention the food.

The Tax man
The British Inland Revenue has ruled that our market mangers are casual labor. Therefore we do not have to pay payroll taxes. Check with the IRS to make sure your employment arrangements comply with tax law.

Nina Planck (planckn@earthlink.net) grew up on a Virginia farm selling vegetables at farmers’ markets. She started the first farmers’ market in London in 1999. (www.lfm.org.uk). She is the author of THE FARMERS’ MARKET COOKBOOK and lives in Washington, DC.