Market manager Kardien Gerbrands talks about Swindon farmers' markets

IT is as important as ever to support our local and British farmers at this time as, despite the wave of publicity that supported the clamour from Dairy Farmers for fair prices for milk, nothing has changed out there.

Yes. our farmers, those stewards of our countryside on whom we depend for our health and wellbeing, are still being ripped off on the wholesale markets where cheap produce from across the globe is pushing prices way below the costs of UK production. I recently heard that at two separate livestock markets in the area whole pigs, ready for slaughter, only fetched £50 each at one and £45 at the other! For a whole pig, reared from birth for 18 months! £45! Unbelievable.

When you shop at the farmers’ markets around the country you are saying a big NO to our farmers getting ripped off by the unrealistic price wars in the food retail sector and YES to farmers getting a fair price for the work they do; a YES to sustainable farming practices and a big NO to factory/industrial scale farming practices.

Of course let us not forget that shopping at the farmers’ market also provides us with much fresher and tastier vegetables and fruits than you can buy at the supermarket and the meats, cheeses, breads, cakes and the host of other products available are uniquely tasty and noticeably free of additives and falsifiers (regularly used in large scale food production to cheaply bulk things out).

To find your nearest farmers’ market, check the Wiltshire farmers’ market website or our fresh-n-local website, or better still come on down to the Swindon farmers’ market every Sunday at the Designer Outlet from 10am to 4pm.

Markets

  • Bradford on Avon, third Thursday, 9am to 1pm at Westbury Gardens, BA15 1DE.
  •  Bradford on Avon, last Sunday, 10.30am to 2.30pm at Lamb Yard, BA15 1FG.
  •  Calne, second Saturday, 9am to 1pm, near the library, SN11 0JU.
  •  Corsham, third Saturday, 9am to 1pm, High Street SN13 0HB.
  •  Devizes, first Saturday, 9am to 1pm, Market Place l Malmesbury, second and fourth Saturdays, 9am to 1pm, Market Cross 
  •  Royal Wootton Bassett, fourth Saturday, 9am to 1pm, High Street.
  •  Salisbury, weekly on Wednesdays, 9am to 2pm, Poultry Cross.
  •  Swindon Farmers’ Market, every Sunday, 10am to 4pm, Swindon Designer Outlet, Kemble Drive, SN2 2DY.
  •  Havelock Square Farmers’ Market, Swindon, every Thursday, 9am to 2.30pm.
  •  Trowbridge, second and fourth Friday, 9am to 1pm, Fore Street, BA14 8HX.
  •  Wanborough, third Saturday, 9am to midday, Wanborough Village Hall.
  •  Warminster, first and third Fridays, 9am to 1pm, central car park, BA 12 9BT