Consumer confidence in farmers’ markets should soon be ramped up with the launch of two new certification schemes: GO and GOAL.

The National Farmers’ Retail & Markets Association (FARMA) is unveiling the standards at the Real Food Festival, at Earls Court in London on 10 May. FARMA hopes the move will underpin consumer confidence in its sector and has invited consumer media to attend the launch.

The new schemes are Genuine Own (GO) for producers who are stallholders at farmers’ markets, selling online and/or supplying farm shops; and Genuine Own And Local (GOAL) for farm shops. They apply standards which have been developed by FARMA with NSF-CMi, the Assured Produce inspectorate, supported by funding from DEFRA.

GO and GOAL are based on an independent inspection seeking to establish that provenance and scale of production are in line with retail activities and, without duplicating other assurance schemes that might be in place, the inspection also checks that general farming practices are of a high standard. GOAL also checks customer service and information through a second inspection by professional mystery shoppers.

FARMA is convinced that the schemes are timely, and good news for the direct sales sector, as well as its customers.

Gareth Jones, FARMA’s managing agent said: “Farmers’ markets have become deservedly popular by selling foods that come directly from the farm or producer to the customer. Farm shops are a form of farm diversification and a means of selling the foods grown and reared on the farm, which is their chief point of difference from other food retailers.

“However, success inevitably produces imitation and there are now examples of ‘farm shops’ that have no direct link with a farm; and there are some stallholders at farmers’ markets who are not producers and who undermine the tremendous hard work of the majority of stallholders. The imitations may not be large in number, but to disappoint any customers is a serious concern. Where people see the GO and GOAL logos they can trust that the stallholder or farm shop is the real deal, and buy with confidence.”

FARMA already operates a farmers’ market certification scheme that underpins the management and stallholder selection standards at farmers’ markets. This has been in place since 2002.

Around 250 farmers’ markets in the UK are certified of a total of 750 farmers’ markets that take place regularly in the UK.