Markets May Lose Farmers

Farmers' markets have gotten so trendy the they're beginning to annoy their founders: the farmers. Now some of the locally-grown-produce movement's most high-profile members, turned off by the time commitment and the carnival-like atmosphere at many markets, are dropping out of the circuit.

"The entertainment venue sort of crowd simply is not willing to walk around with a head of cabbage," says Andy Griffin, a prominent farmer-blogger who pulled out of the markets last week. Farmers may start staffing the markets with employees, as some already have, or move their produce into the grocery aisle at community supermarkets and local Whole Foods. (More sustainable living stories.)