‘No flash in the pan’: Iconic farmers’ market in Stoke Newington celebrates 20-year anniversary

Mayor Glanville (second from right) at the anniversary event. Photograph: Growing Communities

The famous Growing Communities farmers’ market in Stoke Newington notched up an incredible achievement this month – reaching its 20-year anniversary.

The team behind the weekly Saturday offering celebrated the birthday with a special event that featured a speech from Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville, a tour, and treats made by the traders.

Guests also enjoyed talks about sustainable farming from local authors and farmers Marina O’Connell and Vicky Heard. People can find out even more if they book one of the few remaining tickets for Growing Communities’ day trip to Ripple Farm in Kent this July.

Kerry Rankine, who set up the farmer’s market for Growing Communities and works as its co-ordinator, said: “The fact we have managed to have this small community-led, farmer-focus market for such a long time is really significant.

“The main push from Growing Communities is on trade. What we believe is that it’s not enough to change the way people farm. What you really need to do is change the way food is distributed.

“On a tiny scale, we are proving a model of how we can actually distribute food in a climate-friendly way and help farmers flourish, which they cannot do in the supermarket system.”

The market hosts 20 producers, predominantly farmers operating within 65 miles of Hackney, and grows and distributes food using renewable fuels and little packaging.

It also pays farmers a fair price, which has a positive knock-on effect.

The market pays farmers fairly for their produce. Photograph: Growing Communities

Rankine explained: “The really good news is that as a result of being part of the market, farmers have been able to take on more land, convert into organic, take on more young people in their areas and train them and pay them fair wages.”

Farm employees can now get sick pay, maternity and paternity pay – basics that many people doing similar jobs don’t always receive. This fairer system helps to fight high levels of poverty in rural areas.

The market also does discounts for pensioners and accepts Rose and Healthy Start vouchers.

A number of Hackney chefs have championed the market by curating recipes based on its produce – these can be found on the Growing Communities website.

In his speech, Mayor Glanville said: “This iconic market here in Stoke Newington is a real asset to Hackney. Twenty years ago, no-one would have talked about a circular economy in the way that they do now and there was far less thought about where our food came from, its carbon impact and also what investing in a local food supply and network could do.”

A recent survey conducted by the market found that 76 per cent of people reported feeling happier after visiting, compared to just one per cent of supermarket shoppers.

Rankine puts this down to the social aspect of the farmers’ market.

On average, each visitor speaks to 3.66 people. At the supermarket, four out of five people said they speak to no-one.

Rankine said: “I’ve noticed that younger people in particular are really looking for those real experiences and real interaction. Not some app, sitting in a room, ordering something that’s made in a dark kitchen by someone being paid less than minimum wage.

“A weekly or fortnightly shop here becomes really important for us, not just for the farmers but it makes us feel better.

“What I’m also really pleased about is there is quite a diversity of people who come to the market. It’s not just the usual suspects.”

It was in the 60s and 70s that the popularity of farmers’ markets started to dwindle, usurped by supermarkets, but Rankine said they have made a comeback in recent years.

However, supermarkets still control 90 per cent of the food distributed in the UK.

Rankine believes the culture in places like France, Spain and Italy of using farmers’ markets as the main source of groceries only persists because their supermarkets are small and less monopolising.

In Rome, there are about six or seven huge food markets operating every day, with food sold by the farmers themselves.

Rankine added: “In order to increase the amount of small, environmentally-friendly farming that people say they want in the UK, we have to change the way we sell.”

Hackney’s residents certainly seem to have bought into this vision. Forty per cent of the market’s visitors have been shopping there for five years or more.

Many vendors have been there since the market began.

“This market wasn’t a flash in the pan,” Rankine said. “This market has been providing people with amazing, delicious, sustainably-produced food for 20 years.”

For more information, visit growingcommunities.org.