Greenmarket

The concept of Greenmarket began when founders Barry Benepe and Bob Lewis noticed how hard it was to get good local food in the nation’s largest metropolitan area. They also saw that many small farmers in the region were going bankrupt. They secured a small grant and other private funds to study the feasibility of setting up a network of farmers markets and the findings seemed promising.

Barry and Bob recruited 12 farmers for a market in an abandoned lot in Midtown Manhattan. “We were a block from Bloomingdale’s,” Barry recalls, “and it couldn’t have been in a better location. If we’d had a less visible location, it wouldn’t have gotten off the ground the way it did.”

“We didn’t have a long-term view,” Barry says. “We just wanted to get things off the ground.” And they did—in true New York fashion—quickly. Barry and Bob named the fledgling organization Greenmarket “to indicate that the essence of our markets—indeed, that of any true farmers market—was the presence of farmers selling the products of their own farm,” Barry recalls. They found an organizational home at CENYC, which helped them understand and navigate the ins and outs of dealing with City departments, local planning boards, permitting agencies, and health regulations. They attracted major media attention, and soon became regular fixtures in official and unofficial urban planning discussions around the City.

Within months after the first market opened, Greenmarket expanded to a second location at Union Square, which was then a downtown park with a reputation for drug dealing and panhandling. The crowds grew, and more New Yorkers started talking. Calls poured in from neighborhoods across the city, with residents wanting to know how they could start their own Greenmarket. The reasons varied. Some people wanted better access to good food. Others wanted nicer public spaces. A few wanted farmers in their community. But everyone just plain liked the idea.

Barry and Bob scrambled to keep up with the demand. They surveyed more sites, and opened more markets. Some worked, some didn’t. “We probably closed as many markets as we opened in the next ten years,” Barry remembers.

Barry and Bob decided that the best way to manage this growth was to impose a tough code of practice. New markets could only be launched only if they were at highly visible locations (like transportation hubs or major intersections), and if the sites were already well known and had historical relevance. Farmers couldn’t hire outsiders to staff their tables. When some sellers wanted to bring in produce that was out of season and out of region, Barry and Bob clamped down.

“Our producer-only rules make us distinguishable and contribute to our success,” says Michael. “They are among the strictest in the country. I think that has helped our markets as a business, and helped the businesses in the markets.”

For the first 25 years, farmer eligibility was determined by state of residence. Farmers had to come from New York state or adjacent states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. “For a while, we also had farmers from Delaware and North Carolina,” Barry notes. The reason? “Delaware is as close as upper New York State. The Red Springs, North Carolina-based farm was owned by a Harlem resident with a family member doing the farming in Red Spring.”

Today, the Union Square market is Greenmarket’s signature location and operates four days a week. The park has been cleaned up and is surrounded by high- end restaurants whose chefs shop at the market. It also is flanked by new food retailers like Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes.