Wayne County is apple and vegetable country, and farm stands line the roads every fall — yet most residents still do their weekly shop at the big chains. Is loyalty to local agriculture a moral issue or just an unrealistic ask?
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Add your commentBorn and raised in Newark, and I'll tell you exactly what the problem is: the farm stands close at 5pm on a Tuesday when I'm still at work in Rochester. I don't get home until 6:30. You want my loyalty? Give me your hours. I buy local every Saturday at the stand on Route 88 and I feel great about it, but calling it a MORAL issue for people who work double shifts is honestly insulting.
My grandfather ran a produce stand off Route 31 for thirty-one years. Thirty-one years. And I watched Walmart come in and cut his sales by half in two seasons. So yeah, I take this personally. I'm not saying everyone has to make it their religion, but the idea that buying local is some quaint optional lifestyle thing and not an economic survival issue for real Wayne County families — that attitude has consequences. We've already lost so many operations that aren't coming back.
Moral issue. Lol okay professor. Some of us are feeding four kids on a tight budget and Aldi has ground beef and pasta and everything else under one roof for prices the farm stand simply cannot match. Not everything is a values statement. Sometimes it's just Thursday and you're exhausted and you need dinner on the table by 6. I support the farms when I can. I also live in the real world.
Hot take nobody wants to hear: Wayne County farm stands are a seasonal luxury, not a grocery store. You can't buy toilet paper, cereal, milk, or half the things a family needs at a roadside stand. Comparing them to chain grocery stores is apples to... well, just apples. The whole premise of this question doesn't make sense.
Obligated? No. But should you feel a little guilty tossing a bag of mealy Washington State apples in your cart at Wegmans when you literally drove past three apple orchards to get there? Yeah, maybe a little.
^^^ Actually that's not quite right — Wayne County is a top producer but Orleans and a couple others compete for that title depending on the year. But your broader point stands, so I'll give you a pass lol. And yes, buy local when you can, people.
i moved here from Syracuse two years ago specifically because of the area and the farms and whatever and honestly the first fall i was here i almost cried at how good the apples were at the stand on the lyons road. like genuinely better than anything ive ever bought anywhere. so i just dont understand why this is even a debate for people who grew up here. maybe you just got used to it and forgot how good it is?
Actually FYI Wayne County produces more apples than any other county in New York State, so if anyone should be supporting local agriculture its literally us. Kind of embarrassing that we dont.
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