Market value

The cold nips at customers' fingers as they riffle through produce at Arlington's final farmers market of the season. Here for the harvest's last hurrah, residents bundled in hats and scarves leave with armloads of squash, pumpkins, apples, and cheeses.

For Francis Busa, the day he needs to wear a pair of thick gloves marks the end of this year's crops, this year's loyal customers, and, most important, this year's income. Standing by a table draped with his final batches of radicchio, arugula, and swiss chard, he dreads the winter when the work continues, but the money does not.

But during the past 25 years, a sort of farmers market revolution has made the winter much more bearable for Busa and other farmers. In that time, the number of farmers markets in the state has increased 600 percent from 17 to 109, allowing farmers to reclaim the direct relationship they had with their customers before the rise of supermarkets in the 1950s.

''They're essential to our survival," Busa said of the new markets. ''Before, there were days when we had more produce than our farm stand could carry, and we'd have to throw it out or sell it wholesale at minimal profit. Now, we come here."

From Arlington to Lexington and Lawrence to Lowell, farmers often make $1,000 or more in one sitting at a market. And by cycling through six, eight, even 10 markets a week, many are able to rely less on commercial sales, which are often regulated by the government. And they avoid competition with megafarms in the Midwest that can eliminate a small farm's annual profits with one swing of a price-lowering scythe.

Oakes Plimpton, the market manager of the Arlington farmers market, set out to record the transition in the state's farming market in his recently published book, ''Farms and Farmers of the Arlington Farmers' Market, 1997-2005." He chronicles the history of the nine farms that participate in Arlington's market and are regulars at other markets around the state, through photographs and interviews made during the past two years.

The farmers in the book, who hail from many points north and west of Boston, emphasize that farmers markets are not simply a place where residents can make small donations to help local agriculture, but that during the past decade especially, they have become their livelihood.

According to David Webber, the state's farmers market representative, Massachusetts leads the nation in direct sales per farm -- $24,873 per farm annually -- despite having fewer farms than almost any other state. This includes profits from farmers markets, pick-your-own programs, and roadside stands. Overall, direct sales from Massachusetts farms rose by 53 percent between 1997 and 2002, from $20.4 million to $31.3 million.

''It's hard for growers to compete on a wholesale level in the Northeast," Webber said. ''Many farms are turning to direct marketing as a means to stay in business to get the full retail dollar."

Farmers can often make 10 times the profits on produce they sell at farmers markets compared to commercial sales. Busa, for example, said his family would get about $4 for a bin of lettuce that would fetch $40 at a farmers market.

Alan Nicewicz owns an orchard near Nashoba Valley with his three brothers and sells at 10 markets around Boston each week. He said he has earned as much as $3,000 per day at the height of the peach season at one market, but more commonly makes between $1,000 and $2,000 in sales. He said a $20 box of wholesale apples goes for as much as $40 at a farmers markets, and he also saves on labor costs by not having to package the fruit.

For Nicewicz, the farmers markets compensated for the poor apple-picking season this fall, ruined by repeated rainy weekends.

Webber said farmers markets have played a large role in preventing further disappearances of the state's farms during difficult economic times. The 6,100 farms in the state today, while on average 13 acres smaller, are comparable in number to those of a decade ago.

Jennifer Smith, 29, of Smith's Country Cheese in Winchendon, sells cheese and ground beef from coolers at Arlington's market. Smith said her family had relied entirely on milk sales to Garelick Farms, but government control of milk prices makes profits difficult to come by. The farm began making cheese to sell directly to customers 20 years ago to diversify.

Smith said farmers markets give her hope as she devotes her life to her family's legacy.

''We take it day by day and this helps," she said. ''In farming, you have to see what comes your way and just keep it going."

Several farmers also theorized that Massachusetts farmers markets may thrive while markets in other states fail because of the state's emphasis on town-centered community. Farmers markets more naturally fit in with the New England image of town common, town square, and town meeting.

Most of the customers visiting Arlington's last market of the year said they see farmers markets as a way to increase community. They emphasized the give-and-take relationship with farmers, where residents almost feel as though they are performing a community service while shopping.

''I definitely spend more money here, but that's fine. I'd rather support them," Amelia Mueller said. ''I believe it's important for people to eat food that's grown locally and not driven hundreds of miles from somewhere else. And it is important to support our farms."

''I love it. I love it," said Arlington resident Lori Damon. ''The vegetables taste fresh and look different than what's in the store. I love that it's local, that it's fresh and from a farm. I wish they were more than once a week."

The market in Arlington, like many in the state, also gives back to the community by donating leftover produce, or ''seconds," to food pantrys. Starting in August, the seconds from Arlington's market go to the Menotomy Manor public housing development, where they are sold to residents for $2 a bag.

Busa's 45-acre farm, 15 acres of which he owns, is surrounded by Lexington's million-dollar homes. For him, the farmers markets and community-supported agriculture are what bring him back to his senses when he considers selling.

''The downtime during the winter is the toughest, and sometimes it makes you think about it. It looks very attractive," Busa said.

But during the more optimistic six months of the farming year, he begins to teach his six children how to farm, confident it will be a mainstay in the community.

''Go to school first, I tell them," he said. ''The farm will always be here."

Dorian Block can be reached at dblock@globe.com. Oakes Plimpton's ''Farms and Farmers of the Arlington Farmers' Market, 1997-2005" can be purchased at The Book Rack, Balich's Five & Dime, Wanamaker's Hardware, the Historical Society, and the Jefferson Cutter House, all in Arlington.