Union Square Green Market
Manhattan
17th Street to 15th Street
Union Square
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
8:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Began with a few farmers in 1976
140 regional farmers fisher people, and bakers sell products
60,000 shoppers visit during the year
chefs buy produce here too.
Ron Binaghi
Stokes Farm, Old Tappan, New Jersey
18 acres
For us it keeps us in business.We can get our product on the farm that we grow, we can get it right to the people who are the end users. So we cut out the middleman. There’s less waste and we are little more flexible about what we grow. We grow whatever people want us to grow.
How many farmers markets do you go to in a week?
We are in six.
And how big a part of your business is that
It’s about 90 percent of our sales.
You actually farm?
Yeah. I do.
I’m the guy who grows all the stuff.
And how does that relate to selling out here?
In order to be a good farmer at a market, you not only have to be the grower you also have to be a good sales person and not everybody has that. Some people are great growers. Some people are great growers. There’s not that many who will be both.
If you can be both you can be successful.
I know a lot of the growers out there who would rather not be behind the counter and deal with what we deal with on a daily basis.
If you ever work in retail you know what I mean.
What’s your craziest customer story?
I can talk about people who steal from us. I can talk about
There was a lady last week, we were here. It snowing in October. We had four inches of snow on the ground. We were soaking wet. It rained the entire day.
We were sopping wet. The lady said, “How much are the tomatoes? $2.75 a pound.
She said, “Can I have them less because you’re going home?” I said, “No.” She said, “Are you sure?” So I took the box and I dumped them in garbage. She said, “I’ll take them out of the garbage.” So I stepped on them. I said, “I will never give you these tomatoes, even for free. Do you know what we did today? We stood out here in the rain, in the wet and the snow just for you to belittle us like that? Sorry.
That’s my crazy customer story
What’s the best thing here at this time of year?
Sprouts brussel sprouts.
Wade Karlin Fisherman PE &DD Seafood
What does selling at a farmer’s like this do enable a fisherman like you to do.
Stay in business.
What do you mean?
You know you are cutting out the middleman. And not only are you optimizing what you catch and selling. Your also helping out the conservation effort by not over fishing.
We just take what we need to fulfill our needs at the market. So it works in a great way.
You only catch really what you need. And you are cutting out the middleman, which you know keep the prices low, so people are getting a good deal for great quality fish.
I can sit here, stand here in front of you and tell you, you’re not going to get fresher fish anywhere in Manhattan, or the five boroughs than my fish. And that’s a guarantee.
How many days a week do you fish?
Well it depends. This time of year it can be a bit dodgy because of the weather.
In the summertime when the weather is great, we’re fishing seven day a week. If I’m not fishing than my brother is fishing, my nephew is fishing, my father is fishing.
BNT: This is a family business?
It’s a family business. Yes.
BNT: And how man of your family are involved. There’s my brother, my nephew, my dad. my mom.
My aunt . So we’re all involved. My other aunt works at the other market at Abington Square on Saturdays.
How different is the fishing than the selling?
He laughs.
You walk a fine line. It’s so funny you know.
You get so used to being independent and you’re out on the boat and you live a certain lifestyle.
You realize that you are dealing with so many different personalities, selling fish.
But it’s fun. 99.9% of my customers are just awesome folks. They are cool
They are enthusiastic. They know you. They are here every week. And they take a real interest in your life as much as we take an interest in their lives.
It’s fun all the way around as long as you keep a good attitude. And
Tory Langford customer
I like the farmer’s market because it’s a great place you can get fresh farm, organic food. And I know it’s a cliche. But in our society t here isn’t a lot of that.
So it’s really nice living in New York that you can come and get it. The price is good.
The food is accessible, and it’s really good for your body.
Windfall salad seller? Jesse Wasserman
What makes it so good is we don’t use any chemicals, pesticides in it.
It’s so good because that’s the way they grow it.
I love being outside. I love when the seasons change, I love being part of this community people who care about food.
Morse Pitts
Farmer Windfall Farms.
Grows in the lower Hudson Valley Newburgh, New York
What does the farmer’s market allow you to do?
It allows me to keep my farm for the time being. But it’s hard to keep a farm place near New York City because everybody buys them for other things.
It’s like a friend of mine said, “If you work for a green market , green market is hospice for farms. It allows farms to die slowly rather than all at once.
And you want to continue with farming?
I would like to, but it’s the joke about farming, is farming is what it’s all about. And I’ve got to stop before it is all gone.
What makes your lettuce so good. Cold weather especially. It also makes it very hard to pick.
My favorite thing is people ask, “What I get at the store across the street is rotten when I get it home. When i take yours, it’s still good in two weeks. Ours was picked that day, or the day before. There’s was picked in another country a longtime ago.
So it makes a difference that we’re close by. But it is difficult to keep anything close to New York City.
Cause like I said, everybody buys up all the farms for weekend places, and things.
BNT-You seem gloomy about it?
Yeah. because there seems no way to keep it from that way.
And how long have you been farming.
A little over 30-years.
BNT And you think is a close to the end.
Yeah. So and we do what we can to try to get people started. But it’s the same thing. If they try to get a place, you have to compete with the person on Wall Street who has the most money to buy the farm. You have to compete with your labor to do that, and it can’t really be done. You can’t really compete with that.
JUSTINA GO AND JUSTIN KNOX
I like the farmers market. I like to support the local farmers and the greens are fresher and they last longer in the fridge, when you can get it organic. Justina Go.
What appeals to you about it?
My wife likes it.
Lots of people.
Wife: I actually just like looking at produce too.
Guy: It’s just fun coming down.
What’s fun about it?
You get to learn about new types of foods that you don’t normally see in a regular supermarket.
Howard Locker Attorney
Maria Winslow. Columbia student
What appeals to you about?
The vegetables and fruits are really fresh. Everything is made by the people here.
And it’s all really good stuff.
BNT: And you bought?
We got two kinds of goat cheese
Girlfriend: And some wine
He repeats: And some wine
Excellent wine.
Girlfriend: You can get a lot of local produce and the wines from the New York State Fingerlakes Region.
He shows the wine.
Howard Locker Attorney
Maria Winslow. Columbia student
