Our Market is proud to be featured in a recent story on the BUPA Travel Insurance Blog titled Farmers Markets: Australia’s best local produce. The story is a great round up of Australia’s best Farmers Markets, and we’re thrilled to be a part of it and represent the Canberra region. As the story says, ‘the fertile fields surrounding Australia’s capital are brimming with fresh fruit and vegetables that underpin the success of Canberra’s largest farmers market’.

What else did our friends at BUPA have to say about Farmers’ Markets?

How many hands did the last apple you ate touch before it reached yours? Was the beef you fed your family last night raised in a healthy manner? If you’re shopping at your local supermarket, it is unlikely that you’ll be able to easily get answers to these questions. If you shop at the Capital Region Farmers Market, on the other hand, you’ll easily get the answers to these questions and more.

There are plenty more reasons to shop at farmers’ markets, here are our top three.

Locally sourced products: Groceries at big supermarkets often have to travel hundreds of kilometres to get on those shelves. This results in pollution from the refrigerated trucks that transport the food and fresh produce. It also means that your vegetables and fruit will partially ripen on its journey, rather than the way nature intended. Farmers’ products don’t have to go nearly as far to get to you, resulting in fresher produce with less environmental impact, which is what we’re all about at the Capital Region Farmers Market.

Food education: Food is more than just sustenance and nobody understands that better than the people who produce it. When you shop at a farmers’ market, you can meet the people who planted the seeds and toiled away to bring you that head of lettuce. Take just a few minutes to stop and chat while you’re picking out your produce, and you can hear the passion these people have for their products. Everything always tastes better when it has been made with love.
Preservative free produce: No one likes to think about the chemicals and preservatives we ingest along with our food. Many of the products available at farmers’ markets are organic, meaning that they are free from the preservatives and pesticides that are present in so many supermarket products. Eating organic food is not only a nutritious option, it is better for the environment as well.