Reading the space of the farmers' market: A preliminary investigation fromthe UK

The aim of this paper is to begin to examine the emergence of Farmers' Mark ets (FM) in the UK. It is suggested that FM represent a new type of 'consum ption space' within the contemporary British foodscape, one which may be re ad as a heterotopic convergence of localist, moral, ethical and environment al discourses, mediated by networks of producers, consumers and institution s. Based on a preliminary analysis of some of the discourses employed by th ese actors, it is argued that FM can be understood simultaneously as 'conse rvative' and 'alternative' spaces. 'Conservative' in that they encapsulate a reactionary valorization of the local, linking localness to the ideas of quality, health and rurality and 'alternative' in that they represent a div ersifying rural economy arising in response to the difficulties being exper ienced by some UK farmers and a more general perception of a countryside un der threat. Initial evidence from a pilot case study in Stratford-upon-Avon is used to support these suggestions and propose directions for future res earch.