What time of day is it best to go to a farmers’ market?

Go early for a few reasons:

1) you’ll enjoy the excursion more if you’re not walking around in the hottest time of day; in warm weather

2)  the quality of unrefrigerated produce can deteriorate as the day goes on

3) the best-looking produce will be grabbed up first, so, if you come late, you get your choice of picked-over items.

There is one dubious advantage to coming toward the end of the day.  You may get bargains as the market is getting ready to close down because farmers don’t want to be left with unsold merchandise to bring back to the farm.  However, the bargains may not be the quality that you want. 

Source(s):

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, UNL Extension in Lancaster County “The Garden Grocery: Food Safety and Selection at the Farmers’ Market”
http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/farmer.shtml