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THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND
The definition still holds true today with 8.5% of Englands horticultural holdings being located in Kent though it accounts for 2.7% of England's land.
Kent also produces 40% of the horticultural products consumed in the UK
Over 500 small local food producers use Kent's Farmers markets to sell their produce (together with at least 250 makers of craft wares). The variety of their produce is amzing Click here to see the Produce and Producers selling at ALL Farmers Markets in Kent. and Click here to find out what is sold at each Farmers Market . Much of the produce is not even seen at your local Supermarket.
However, a common problem for most of these small producers is how do we inform the general shopping public about our produce ? and 'How do they find us to buy our produce ? '. They are so busy producing that most have little time to spend on marketing and very few of them have any experience in this field.
Kent Farmers Market Association (KFMA) was established in 2007 to help PROMOTE these Markets and Producers by acting as their web 'shop window' and to inform potential shoppers of their location and opening hours. In addition, KFMA also offer practical advice to help them grow their businesses and informs them about food retail regulations, .
We have now expanded these principles to other local food and drink producers many of whom also suffer from this same lack of PROMOTION and, in particular, WHERE they are located and where the general public can purchase their products. We thave divided these producers into food and drink sectors. To date we have added:-
FARM SHOPS These have grown from sales at the farm gate to retailing from unique selling locations, with plenty of parking space, intersting buildlings PLUS their own LOCAL produce . These 'shops' have enabled many farmers to diversify and offer other attractions. They, plus Farmers Markets, have now become the bastions for retailing of local produce. Both have also grown in variety of produce sold and both attract 'Local Artisan Producers' .
VINEYARDS With climate change and the realisation that the geology of the south east of England is very similar to that of parts of France, Vineyards have seen major growth in Kent and Sussex in the last 15 years. Many of these businesses are now adding value to their original purpose by using their locations as assets in their own right and have iversified with the addition of vineyard tours, food and shops bringing in locals and toursits alike.
MICRO BREWERIES The interest in local beers and different types of beers have seen a major growth in micro breweries all over the country. This growth has been especially high in Kent and Sussex stimulated with the resurgance of the hop industry. Again they are diversifying to make their locations attractive to visitors
SOFT DRINKS & CIDER
Both Kent and East Sussex are tradintional fruit growing areas. Recently. old and new apple and pear orhards are regenerating with new customers wanting new soft drink tastes. Innovations such as revival of old varities and mixing apple with other local Kentish fruits (e.g. Raspberry) are changing the market. The same is happening with cider i.e. unpasteurised version of apple juice. Apple cider is becoming a key element in cooking whilst Apple Cider vinegar is also growing both as a marinade and health drink.
FARMERS MARKETS
To date there are just over 50 Market Members of our Association which run over 1200 markets every year. Over 450 Producers attend these markets plus 200 which are craft makers. We also have a waiting list of producers lokking for Markets to sell their wares.
Our Stallholders/Producers sell an amazing variety of produce.
Kent Farmers Market Association was set up in 2006 following a review of Farmers Markets conducted by University of Canterbury. Their main finding was that Markets and Producers and the shopping public would obtain considerable benefits by mutual co-operation. In particular by:-
With the realisation of the health benefits of eating local produce and the detrimental impact of Ultra Processed Foods combined with facility of buying food in far more interesting environments ,there has been a major increase in demand for LOCAL PRODUCEall over the country. In Kent this demand has also been further 'enhanced' by the growth of the local wine and micro brewery industries which have grown from a base of a few hobbyists to a major industry. This concept of shopping in an interesting environment has also helped farmers diversify and create new income streams.
The first, and still most important role of KFMA, was to develop a web site on behalf of all Farmers Markets and Producers so the shopping public had one place to go to find information about Farmers Markets in Kent. We created our 'one stop web site'. We have now widened our key objective to become the 'one stop local food web site' to enable the shopping public have one web site to find growers and retailers of local produce. To date we have completed Vineyards, Farm Shops and Micro-Breweries sectors and we will be adding more food sectors in the near future.
We believe we can offer the same benefits of mutual co-operation to all Producers and Retailers of local food in Kent (and the South East) by:-
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