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Will Farmer's Markets Benefit from the Food Tariffs? ---PART 2---

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 In my last installment, I opined that farmer's markets are a unique outlet in the food supply chain, in part because we see so many elementary economic lessons at play. With the new tariffs on imported foods coming on the scene (except for when they're not, but usually are on again, but sometimes off again, though there are exceptions, except when there aren't, etc.) grocery prices have started to rise.  A student in my supply chain management class gave a presentation last week about his uncle's BBQ restaurant and said they've quit offering certain types of fish on their menu: their suppliers stopped carrying it so as not to have to suffer the tariff, while the alternative for the uncle was to pay >2x the price at Sam's Club or Costco for the same fish.  If consumers (and restauranteurs alike) are about to face higher food prices no matter where they shop, does this mean that people now have an additional incentive to just go to farmer's markets? Potent...
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Will Farmer's Markets Benefit from the Food Tariffs? ---PART 1---

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 There's something special about farmer's markets. My family and I love farmer's markets. In grad school at Purdue, we hit up all available, and rarely missed any. Saturday mornings across the river in Lafayette; Wednesday evenings just down the street in West Lafayette; and outside the school year, Thursday mornings on Purdue's campus (side note: why don't more college campuses host farmer's markets?)  Before we had any kids, in 2016 my wife and I went to Boston for the AAEA annual meeting (ag economics conference). In Copley Square beside Trinity Church was the largest farmer's market I've ever been to in my life, even to present day. Blueberries brought down from Maine, locally baked goods, just about anything you could think of was available in massive quantity. (source: https://www.newenglandopenmarkets.com/boston-open-market)  We're rather partial to our small, local market in Downtown Murray. It's a fraction of a fraction of the size of th...
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Specialty Crop Hobby Update: Pawpaws

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I'm generally not a fan of the Fall season. Everything that was once green is now turning brown; what was once blooming and full of life now looks...well, not that. Also, it's getting colder, but at least the bugs are on a shortened timer --- especially mosquitos. Make no mistake: I love that apples are in season, and it's pretty hard to beat a drink of in-season cider. Not to mention, we typically associate Fall with crop harvest, which means (hopefully lots of) grain being stored ready to market (hopefully profitably). But there's one thing that is unique not just to North America, but this part of the US for many thousands of years, and that is the largest tree-borne fruit native to the continent. I'm talking about the pawpaw. Other names include "The Poor Man's Banana", "The Indiana/Hoosier Banana", and "The Mississippi Banana". Quite the pattern in the alternative names, no? Anywhere from mid-September to early-October, the paw...
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