Every Thursday and Sunday, the eastern stretch of Broadway between 114th and 116th Streets is overtaken by a vast array of seasonal produce, ciders, and baked goods. Margaret Hoffman is the market manager for Columbia’s local Greenmarket—one of 26 in Manhattan and 45 across the five boroughs run by the Council on the Environment of New York City.

What does the selection process entail for selecting which farmers participate in the Greenmarkets?

The farmers apply to the Greenmarket for a space, but first must comply with a set of rules and regulations. They all must have a local, family-run farm; they can’t have genetically modified produce; and while we don’t require that produce be organic, we don’t want people doing serious spraying and fertilizing. Really, we’re just looking for good variety—and there are enough markets around to evenly distribute different products.

What factors determine Greenmarket locations?

We’ve been in this spot [at Columbia] for about four or five years. We really look for areas with heavy foot traffic, and this place has more traffic than almost any other place I’ve seen in Manhattan, save Times Square. Between the subway stop and the students, there’s a constant flow of customers. Also, good parking is pretty important for parking the trucks.

What are your responsibilities as a market manager?

My job is 50 percent promotion—I run cooking demonstrations and such—and the other 50 percent is managerial, making sure no one has a problem each week, that tents are set up properly, and so on. I manage four Greenmarkets from 97th Street to Inwood.

Geographically, where are all of these farmers coming from?

We have people who are coming from only a few miles away, and some who are traveling from as far as the Finger Lakes. The area from which we accept farmers stretches 250 miles to the north, 170 miles to the east and west, and 120 miles to the south.

I’ve seen some farmers coming down to Columbia in the dead of winter; when do farmers typically stop coming to Greenmarket for the year?

Our busiest time is from July to August, but obviously we’re around for much more of the year than that. It’s a big expense for farmers to come down to the market; so in the winter only the people who have products that are cold resistant or foods that can be stored really show up. But some of the produce can easily be sold year round, so it’s a matter of comfort and convenience. The cheese people come down every Thursday, and the fish people come down every Sunday—they can sell as late into the season as they want.

Daniella Zalcman can be reached at daniella.zalcman@columbiaspectator.com.