9 Annoying Things You Do at Farmers' Markets, According to Farmers

On any given summer weekend, you’re bound to find a farmers’ market in some corner of your city. Once there, you’ll find a of mix of vendors peddling produce, flowers, and packaged goods—and plenty of people snapping Instagram photos of mountains of colorful carrots and overflowing berry baskets… sometimes nudging customers out of the way to compose the perfectly artisanal shot.

Recently, CityLab interviewed a number of farmers and vendors at some of our favorite markets. Their responses were overwhelmingly enthusiastic—they love that locals are excited to support small-scale local agriculture. But after a little while, they loosened up and swapped tales of nightmare customers, such as serial produce nibblers or sample snatchers. Then there are the aesthetic elitists, who sniff at the “misshapen” heirloom tomatoes.