As an undercover hidden camera investigation recently revealed, not every bearded and overall-wearing guy behind the stand at farmers markets is selling food he grew himself. Some of them just load up a local produce warehouses and sell it to you at a feel-good-about-saving-the-earth premium. So how do you tell who’s real and who’s shoveling you fertilizer?

Ask them a lot of questions, NBC LA reports:

Ask him the exact location of his farm. Ask him if you can visit the farm. Ask what produce he’s harvesting this week. If he can’t give you specific answers, or acts too busy to talk to you, that’s a big red flag. During our NBCLA investigation, one of our “undercover shoppers” asked a farmer the exact location and address of his farm. He said he didn’t know. What? A farmer doesn’t know where his farm is located? We later discovered that farmer was selling mostly items he’d bought from large commercial farms; not stuff he’s actually grown himself.

More tips at Top 5 Ways to Find Honest Vendors at Farmers Markets [NBC Los Angeles]

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