Farmers markets have always been less than the cheapest place to buy food. It's fresher and a lot of the farms producing it are smaller-scale. Prices have been generally, over the last 30 years, higher than supermarkets, sometimes significantly higher."

But,that gap has been closing of late.

The total cost of  basic grocery items in supermarkets went up 8% from the first quarter of 2007 to the same period of this year. One reason: sharply rising oil prices have made it expensive to ship food long distances. Another: conventional farming is a heavy user of petroleum products. The playing field is certainly in the process of being leveled. In conventional agriculture, everything is petroleum-based -- not just fuel in tractors, but their fertilizers and their sprays. Organic farmers use waste from their animals to produce their own fertilizer.

If price competitiveness is added to the list of advantages of shopping at farmers' markets, more people will choose to shop at a farmers market.

Farmers markets have always had to make an argument on supporting the local economy and the nutrition of food that's fresh,. but haven't had the argument to shop locally to save money.