Palm Trees and Perishables

Part of being able to not just survive, but thrive, includes a broader product mix. “This market has been here for 70 years,” comments Kocsis. “There are more choices on the market now; in the past, you couldn’t get any specialty items here, but now you can get everything.”

Plant City Farmers’ Market
Located about 25 miles east of the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, Plant City is part of Hillsborough County and conveniently located on Interstate 4. This busy interstate highway transects the state, traveling to Lakeland, then over to Orlando.

The Plant City Farmers’ Market has been around for decades and was established in 1939. This booming wholesale market includes more than 100 vendors, covers nine-plus acres and moved $64 million in product in 2013. Approximately 90 percent of the market’s produce is sold to restaurants, grocery stores, and hundreds of fruit and vegetable roadside dealers. The market contributes an estimated $250 million to the economy and its approximately 35,000 residents.

Immokalee Farmers’ Market
Located inland, about 50 miles northeast of Naples is Immokalee, in Collier County, with a population of about 25,000 residents. The Immokalee Farmers’ Market opened in 1951 and spans more than 25 acres. When Hurricane Wilma tore through southwest Florida in 2005, the market suffered severe damage. After years of disputes with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Immokalee Farmers’ Market finally reopened just two years ago, in 2012. Fresh produce sales reached more than $15 million by the following year.

“Hurricane Wilma completely destroyed one of our buildings and damaged our second building,” says Jay Johnson with JGL Produce Company, Inc., a distributor, packer, and shipper that has leased space on the market since 1996. “We were able to make repairs and continue operations from our second building after the hurricane,” relates Johnson. “Overall, we lost 50 percent of our warehouse space and 30 percent of our refrigerated space, which lowered our storage and shipping capability.”

Johnson said the destroyed building was rebuilt from the ground up before the market was reopened in 2012. “It’s been really nice to operate out of a brand new warehouse,” he adds. “I know the reopening increased business for at least eight other companies, and the State Farmers’ Market is a very busy place now.”

Fort Pierce Farmers’ Market
Established in 1940, the Fort Pierce Farmers’ Market is located near the Atlantic coast of Central Florida, south of Vero Beach and 95 miles north of Pompano Beach. Spanning more than 100 acres, the market consists primarily of fruit and vegetable shippers. In 2013, the market moved $21 million worth of products, much of it citrus.