Market Correction

The greatest pleasure of shopping at California’s farmers markets is interacting with small-scale farmers who grow high-quality, noncommercial produce. Watching Santa Barbara County’s Bill Coleman setting up his dazzling display of exotic greens. Shaking hands with crusty old Art Lange from Reedley in the San Joaquin Valley after he’s sold you some luscious Snow Queen nectarines. Or listening to farmer James Birch’s bemused tales of the wild boars and bears beleaguering his orchards in the Sierra foothills.

Most vendors are hard-working people who have built their lives around farming and selling at farmers markets, state-certified venues where small farmers sell directly to the public and are free from many commercial packing and grading requirements.

But with the proliferation of markets over the last decade, another side has also emerged, a shadowy world of peddlers who buy produce from packing houses or other farmers and pass it off as their own.

It’s estimated that 10% or more of California’s 5,000 certified producers cheat at least occasionally. As with any illicit activity, it’s hard to know the exact extent, but whatever the figure, even a few “bad apples” threaten the livelihood of the honest farmers.

Consumers may not notice any differences in their fruits and vegetables when they buy from cheaters, but hat doesn’t mean they’re unaffected in the long run.

Because the cheaters can procure cheap, uninterrupted supplies--they don’t have to worry about water and labor costs or crop failures--they put real farmers at a disadvantage.

The basic rules governing farmers markets are simple. Only certified producers can sell at certified markets. Producers and markets can only be certified by the agricultural commissioner of each county. Farmers can sell only items that an inspector has verified that they grow, as listed on their certificate.

This seems straightforward enough, but unscrupulous vendors can exploit the markets by various subterfuges, including:

* Selling produce they didn’t grow themselves. The vendor buys fruits or vegetables from another farmer or a wholesale packing house and sells it as his own at certified farmers markets.

* Sham leases and partnerships. The farmer falsely claims he has leased land from or formed a partnership with another farmer, but the owner keeps control of the land, does all the work and sells the vendor produce at harvest time, which he in turn sells at farmers markets. The owner, for his part, gets an easy sale.

* The abuse of second certificates. “Second certs” legally allow one farmer to sell produce grown by another. Second certificates increase variety at the smaller markets and save costs for farmers, but they also provide a cover for abuses like the purchasing of produce from packing houses.

Typically, a cheater does grow some or even most of what he sells, but supplements that with purchased product when his crops run short.

After last season’s disastrous citrus freeze, several buyers approached a manager at the newly opened packing shed owned by Dale Simmons, a Central Valley orange grower who sells at certified markets, and asked to purchase bins of oranges for farmers markets.

“Two of them were my competition at Bay Area markets,” he said. “When I walked around the corner, they about pooped in their pants. I just shook my head.”

John Hurley, who sells stone fruit such as peaches and nectarines, that he grows in Dinuba at five Southland farmers markets, said: “If I wanted to cheat, I could buy overripes and culls [rejected fruit] at packing sheds for almost nothing. For the sellers, it’s pure profit.”

Cheating is difficult to prove, and since March 1999 county agricultural commissioners, the primary enforcement authorities, have fined or revoked the permits of just six vendors statewide for selling “produce not of their own production.”

Because vendors mostly grow in one area and sell in another, rooting out fraud requires investigators to travel or coordinate their efforts, making the rules tougher to enforce.

For example, on May 17 a Los Angeles County agricultural inspector observed Francisco Zamora’s stand selling white corn at the Santa Monica Wednesday farmers market. He suspected that it was purchased because it seemed too early for corn to be ready at Zamora’s farm in Vista, so he took photographs and issued a notice of violation.

He in turn contacted Laura Avery, the market manager, who paid an unannounced visit to the farm five days later but saw no white corn under cultivation, according to a letter she wrote to the San Diego County Department of Agriculture, which is investigating the matter.

At the Santa Monica market last week, Zamora’s grandson, Larry Zamora Jr., acknowledged that the family had no valid certificate for the corn at the time that it was sold. He said that his family had formed a partnership with the corn’s grower, David Kawano, and that a certificate bearing both of their names would be issued in August. Reached by phone, Kawano declined to comment on his relationship with the Zamoras.

If a farmer accused of such a violation is found guilty by a hearing officer appointed by the county agricultural commissioner, he probably faces a fine in the hundreds of dollars paid to the county.

Agricultural authorities say that cases such as this keep them tied up trying to unravel vendors’ webs of dubious partnerships and leases.

A few months ago, Rob Milner, a Tulare County agricultural inspector, sat in his office in Exeter, fuming about an egregious offender who he believed had wiggled out of his grasp despite three years of surveillance. This vendor, he claimed, owned an orange grove and a few stone fruit trees but bought most of the stone fruit he sold from growers who ostensibly had leased him their orchards--though he made no lease payments and the owners did all the farming.

“He’s always one step ahead of me,” Milner said. Once, for instance, the state inspector caught the suspected cheater at the Wheeler Ridge inspection station, near where Highways 5 and 99 converge, with cartons of shiny Black Beaut plums, which Milner believed were clearly from a packing shed.

“We went to his farm to prove he didn’t grow that variety, but all the fruit had been stripped off the plum trees. So we figured we’d catch him the next year when the trees fruited again, but that winter he cut them all down!” Milner slapped his forehead in frustration.

Last week, Milner closed in on his man. Working with recent sales records provided by market managers, he documented that the suspect was carrying cherries and nectarines that he couldn’t have grown himself. The cherry trees on his certificate had actually been cut down last summer by the real owner.

“I’m writing a request for him to come in to a hearing,” Milner said. “This time, he’s toast.” The penalty could range from a modest fine to revocation of his certificate.

Honest growers get really riled at the peddlers, who provide unfair competition, they say.

“Here I am trying to do things right, and it’s like these guys are rewarded for cheating,” said Hurley, the Dinuba grower. “Rain cracked my cherries this year, but you don’t see me selling cherries.”

Why do some vendors cheat? Greed, and sometimes desperation, are perennial motivations. Moreover, as the number of certified markets in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties has almost doubled in the last decade, to 85, some farmers have been stretched thin. They may be tempted to supplement their crops to maintain market share, to retain valued employees and to get into the most lucrative markets, where managers favor growers with consistent supplies.

“Before, farmers would leave when they didn’t have any crops for sale and come back when they did, but now there’s more pressure on them to stay in the markets,” said Pompea Smith, manager of the Hollywood market.

Aside from the cheats, pressure also comes from the increasing number of large growers at farmers markets, who have every right to sell there under the regulations but may distort the markets’ original purpose of providing outlets to help keep small family farms alive.

In a class by themselves as farmers market professionals are the Rosendahl family, who grow 650 acres of fruit in the Central Valley and sell at about 50 markets, in Southern California. Drawing from a refrigerated warehouse in Torrance, they offer an unmatched variety of stone fruit--ranging in quality from very good to obvious culls--and can overwhelm competing small growers with their well-organized, high-volume operation.

Although the Rosendahl stand at some markets blares its presence with towering billboard-like signs, it’s not always so evident when stalls belong to industrial-scale growers.

At the Corona del Mar farmers market recently, a vendor’s cheerful employee, Ed Wilkerson, tended a small table covered with an embroidered quilt, on top of which were displayed fine-looking bunches of asparagus and carrots in a wicker basket. Two details, however, belied the small-farm look: The asparagus were bound by rubber bands bearing supermarket price-look-up stickers, and one of the growers’ certificates listed more than seven square miles of farms in the Imperial Valley.

For better or worse, farmers markets have come to depend on a mix of large and small growers. Since urbanization has swallowed up much of Southern California’s agricultural land, farmers often must drive long distances to markets, many of which are too slow-selling to warrant their personal presence.

Realistically, it’s not possible to fill the expanding roster of markets only with the bucolic ideal--personally involved farmers growing top-quality produce. But that’s not the end of the world, since farmers markets are much more than gourmet emporia: They function as social events, as magnets to attract crowds to business districts and as sources of wholesome, inexpensive food for inner-city communities poorly served by conventional markets.

Still, many observers lament that as farmers markets allow huge farms to sell commercial produce through employees, they become more like open-air supermarkets. Most disturbingly, in the last year several peddlers caught selling produce they bought from large growers have gotten around the regulations by switching over to become “employees” of these growers.

“It’s a truly huge loophole,” acknowledges Marion Kalb of Southland Farmers’ Markets Assn., the leading organization that arranges and promotes local markets.

Despite these concerns, California’s farmers markets abound in superb produce and offer a precious link with the sources of our food. Many passionate defenders of the markets are determined to keep them viable for small growers.

“If I thought cheating was more the case than the exception, I wouldn’t be involved in farmers markets,” says Mary Hillebrecht, a veteran manager in San Diego County. “But we know who the big cheaters are, and we’re watching them.”

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Certified Farmers Markets

MONDAYS

Los Angeles County

Bellflower--Simms Park, Oak and Clark streets, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

South Gate--South Gate Park, Tweedy Boulevard and Walnut Avenue, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

West Hollywood--Plummer Park, north parking lot, Fountain Avenue at Vista Street, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

*

TUESDAYS

Los Angeles County

Agoura Hills--Whizin’s Center, 28912 Roadside Drive, summer, 3 to 7 p.m.; winter, 2:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Culver City--Media Park, Culver Boulevard and Canfield Avenue, 3 to 7 p.m.

Norwalk--Alondra Boulevard, west of Pioneer Boulevard, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Pasadena (Villa Park)--363 E. Villa St. at Garfield Avenue, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Torrance--Wilson Park, 2200 Crenshaw Blvd. between Carson Street and Sepulveda Boulevard, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Orange County

Brea--Birch Street at Brea Boulevard, 3 to 7 p.m.

Newport Beach--McFadden parking lot at Newport Pier, 21st Street and Newport Boulevard, June 15 to Sept. 15, 8 a.m. to noon; Sept. 16 to June 14, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

San Bernardino County

Big Bear--630 Bartlett Road, seasonal, April to November, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

*

WEDNESDAYS

Los Angeles County

Adams and Vermont (Los Angeles)--St. Agnes Church, 1432 W. Adams Blvd., June through August, 1 to 6 p.m.; September through May, 2 to 6 p.m.

Citadel (Commerce)--The Citadel, 5675 E. Telegraph Road, retail parking lot, 3 to 6 p.m.

Northridge--Northridge Fashion Center, Tampa Avenue south of Plummer Street, seasonal, April through week before Thanksgiving, 5 to 9 p.m.

San Dimas--West Bonita Avenue between Monte Vista and San Dimas avenues, June through August, 5 to 9 p.m.; April, May, September and October, 5 to 8 p.m.; November through March, 4 to 7 p.m.

Santa Monica--Arizona Avenue between 2nd and 3rd streets, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Westchester--6200 block of West 87th Street at Sepulveda Eastway, 8:30 a.m.

Orange County

Dana Point--Pavilion Center, Street of the Golden Lantern and Dana Point Harbor Drive, summer, 2 to 6 p.m.; winter 2 p.m. to sunset.

Fullerton--Woodcrest Park, 450 W. Orangethorpe Ave., 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Tustin--El Camino Real and 3rd Street, 9 a.m to 1 p.m.

Riverside County

Riverside (Downtown)--Main Street between 5th and 6th streets, seasonal, April through October, 5 to 9 p.m.

Ventura County

Ventura (Midtown)--Main Street and Mills Road, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

*

THURSDAYS

Los Angeles County

Carson--Carson Street at Civic Plaza Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

El Segundo--Main Street between Grand and Holly avenues, 3 to 7 p.m.

Glendale--Brand Boulevard between Broadway and Wilson Avenue, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Glendora--Glendora Avenue between Meda and Bennett avenues, seasonal, May through September, 5 to 9 p.m.

La Cienega (Los Angeles)--Ward Plaza, 1801 S. La Cienega Blvd. at 18th Street, 3 to 7 p.m.

Los Angeles--Seventh Market Place, 735 S. Figueroa St., noon to 4 p.m.

Montrose--Honolulu Avenue at Ocean View Boulevard, seasonal, March through mid-December, 5 to 9 p.m.

Redondo Beach--Harbor Drive south of Redondo Beach Pier, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Signal Hill--27th Street between Walnut and Gundry avenues, 3 to 8 p.m.

South Pasadena--Meridian Avenue at Mission Street, 4 to 8 p.m.

Westwood--Weyburn Avenue between Westwood Boulevard and Tiverton Avenue, 2 to 7 p.m.

Orange County

Anaheim--Center Street Promenade at Lemon Street, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Costa Mesa--Orange County Fairgrounds, 88 Fair Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Fullerton--Wilshire and Pomona avenues, seasonal, April to October, 4 to 9 p.m.

Orange--178 S. Glassell St., 2 to 7 p.m. during daylight saving time; 1 to 5 p.m. during standard time.

San Bernardino County

Redlands--East State and Orange streets, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Upland--Euclid Avenue and 9th Street, seasonal, April through October, 5 to 9 p.m.

Ventura County

Oxnard--Plaza Park, 5th and C streets, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Thousand Oaks--Wilbur Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard, summer, 3 to 7 p.m.; winter, 3 to 6:30 p.m.

Ventura (Downtown)--Main Street between California and Oak streets, 5 to 8:30 p.m.

*

FRIDAYS

Los Angeles County

Compton (Hub City)--600 N. Alameda St., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Covina--Civic Center Park, School Street and Citrus Avenue, seasonal, March through Dec. 15, 4 to 9 p.m.

Eagle Rock--2100 block of Merton Avenue between Eagle Rock Boulevard and Caspar Avenue, 5 to 9 p.m.

Hermosa Beach--Valley Drive between 8th and 10th streets, noon to 4 p.m.

Long Beach (downtown)--Promenade North between 3rd Street and Broadway, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Los Angeles--Seventh Market Place, 735 S. Figueroa St., noon to 4 p.m.

Monrovia--Library Park, Myrtle and Lime avenues, seasonal, March through mid-December, 5 to 9 p.m.

San Pedro--Mesa Street between 6th and 7th streets, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Venice--Venice Boulevard at Venice Way, 7 to 11 a.m.

Whittier--12900 Bailey St. between Greenleaf and Comstock avenues, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Woodland Hills (Warner Center)--Promenade Shopping Center, 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd. at Erwin Street, 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Orange County

Huntington Beach--Pier Plaza, Pacific Coast Highway and 6th Street, summer, 1 to 6 p.m.; winter, 1 p.m. to sunset.

Los Alamitos--Pine and Florista streets, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Riverside County

Riverside--Sears parking lot, 5261 Arlington Ave., 8:30 a.m. to noon.

Ventura County

Santa Paula--Main Street between Mill and 10th streets, seasonal, April to October, on the first Friday of the month, 5 to 9 p.m. (Certification pending.)

*

SATURDAYS

Los Angeles County

Burbank--Orange Grove Avenue and 3rd Street, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Calabasas--23504 Calabasas Road at El Canon Avenue, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Gardena--13000 S. Van Ness Ave., south of El Segundo Boulevard, 6:30 a.m. to noon.

La Verne--Bonita Avenue and D Street, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Long Beach (Northeast)--Wardlow Road and Norwalk Boulevard, 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Pasadena (Victory Park)--2800 block of North Sierra Madre Boulevard, between Paloma and Washington avenues, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Pomona--Pearl Street at Garey Avenue, one block north of Holt Avenue, 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Santa Monica (Organic)--Arizona Avenue between 2nd and 3rd streets, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Santa Monica (Pico and Cloverfield)--Pico and Cloverfield boulevards, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Torrance--Wilson Park, 2200 Crenshaw Blvd., between Carson Street and Sepulveda Boulevard, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

West Covina--200 S. Glendora Ave. at State Street, 7:30 a.m. to noon.

Woodland Hills (Pierce College)--De Soto Avenue and Victory Boulevard, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Orange County

Corona del Mar--Pacific Coast Highway at Marguerite Avenue, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Irvine--Irvine Market Place, Campus Drive at Bridge Road, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Laguna Beach--Lumberyard parking lot, Forest and Ocean avenues, September through June, 8 a.m. to noon; July and August, 8 to 11 a.m.

Yorba Linda--Main Street north of Imperial Highway, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Riverside County

Temecula--6th and Front streets, 8 a.m. to noon.

Ventura County

Camarillo--2220 Ventura Blvd. between Palm and Elm drives, 8:30 a.m. to noon.

Santa Paula--Main Street between Mill and 10th streets, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., may close in winter. (Certification pending.)

Ventura (Downtown)--Santa Clara and Palm streets, 8:30 a.m. to noon.

*

SUNDAYS

Los Angeles County

Alhambra--East Bay State and Monterey streets, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Beverly Hills--North Canon Drive between Clifton and Dayton ways, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Claremont--Yale and Bonita avenues, 8 a.m. to noon.

Encino--17400 Victory Blvd. between Balboa Boulevard and White Oak Avenue, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Hollywood--Ivar Avenue between Sunset and Hollywood boulevards, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Long Beach (Marina)--Marina Drive just south of 2nd Street, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Malibu--23555 Civic Center Way, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills Estates)--Peninsula Center, Hawthorne Boulevard and Silver Spur Road, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Santa Clarita--College of the Canyons lot 8, Valencia Boulevard and Rockwell Canyon Road, 8:30 a.m. to noon.

Santa Monica (Main Street)--2640 Main St. at Ocean Park Boulevard, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Studio City--Ventura Place between Ventura and Laurel Canyon boulevards, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Westlake Village--The Landing, 32129 Lindero Canyon Road, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Orange County

Laguna Niguel--Plaza de la Paz, La Paz Road and Pacific Park Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

San Clemente--200 block of Avenida del Mar, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Ventura County

Ojai--300 E. Matilija St., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Oxnard (Channel Islands Harbor)--2810 S. Harbor Blvd., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Largest Farmers Markets in the Southland

Central and Western Los Angeles:

Santa Monica (Wednesdays) and Hollywood, followed by Santa Monica (Organic), Westwood and Santa Monica (Pico and Cloverfield)

Orange County:

Irvine, Costa Mesa and Fullerton (Wednesdays)

San Fernando Valley:

Encino and Studio City

San Gabriel Valley:

Pasadena (Victory Park) and Alhambra

South Bay:

Torrance (Saturdays) and Palos Verdes

Ventura:

Ventura Downtown (Saturdays) and Thousand Oaks

Special markets to check out:

Attractive settings:

Fullerton (Wednesdays), Pasadena (Villa Park), Redondo Beach and Woodland Hills (Pierce College)

Small but good:

Calabasas, Ojai, San Clemente and Whittier

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David Karp’s Favorite Growers

Here are my No. 1 and No. 2 choices. Because some of these growers sell at up to 20 markets a week, their locations would be too numerous to list.

Apples: Mike Cirone of See Canyon Farms for Newtown Pippins and other heirlooms; David Ha for Fujis.

Backyard Growers: Bud and Mimi Hirayama for assorted fruits and vegetables; Salome Antiquera for plants and calamondin citrus.

Hot Peppers: Neal and Carol Bratton of Backyard Dirt Farmers for dried chile powder; John McBride of Rickety Ranch for fresh peppers.

Citrus: Polito Family Farms for Oroblancos; (tie) Thys Ranch, and Garcia Organic Farm for Meiwa kumquats and Page mandarins.

Dates: Robert Lower of Flying Disc Ranch for soft Barhis; Bradley Milliken of Four Apostles’ Ranch for Medjools.

Exotic Fruits: Jerry Dimitman for longans, Big Wong pummelos and wampis; Eli Hofshi for pineapples.

Greens: Coleman Family Farms for exotic greens and heirloom lettuces; (tie) Dennis Peitso of Maggie’s Farm for mache and David Goldman of Culinary Farm for baby lettuces.

Heirloom Fruit: Kim and Clarence Blain for figs and duke cherries; Truman and Betty Kennedy for Stanwick white nectarines.

Stone Fruit: Art Lange of Honey Crisp Farm for Snow Queen white nectarines; Fitzgerald Kelly for ripe fruit and attractive presentation.

Strawberries: Harry’s Berries; Dan Hashiba.

Tomatoes: (tie) Ed Munak, and Thogmartin Farm; Chris Cadwell of Tutti Frutti Farms.

Vegetables: Maryann Carpenter of Coastal Organics for Brussels sprouts on the stalk; Paul and Christina Hartmann of Cahuilla Mountain Farm for chioggia beets.

Honorable Mention: Laura Ramirez of ALJ Ranch (avocados); Avila & Sons (nuts and dried fruit); James Birch of Flora Bella Farm (fruits and vegetables); John Hurley of Summer Harvest Farms (stone fruit); Weiser Family Farms (potatoes and melons); David West (wild mushrooms).