Grown locally, sold conveniently Common Market distributes produce from the region, helping farmers reach the huge hospitals-universities market.

In their 27 years of farming, Andy and Dawn Buzby have taken all the usual routes to selling the produce from their 153-acre Salem County farm.

They have sold to distributors in Vineland, N.J., and Philadelphia, directly to small grocers, and to consumers at farmers' markets.

But the Buzbys had no easy way to sell to a potentially huge market right in their backyard: institutions, such as hospitals and universities.

That changed last month when the Common Market, a nonprofit distributor of fruits and vegetables from farms in the region, started operating.

"I'm just very excited about our product staying local," Dawn Buzby said. "It's fresher. They get the best quality."

Farmers and food-service managers said the Common Market could play an important role in continuing the momentum gained by local-food advocates in recent years.

Many high-end restaurants are big buyers of local produce sold at a premium, and farmers' markets are thriving, but the overall impact on the food industry has been slight because it is hard to hook up local farms with local institutions that buy much more than a typical household does.

"The Common Market is a new frontier for locally grown because it's targeting the institutions and some of the other things that just haven't been as convenient," said Lancaster County farmer Steve Groff, who is selling tomatoes and raspberries through the Common Market.

"I can't go to Philadelphia with my truck and make 15 stops with two or three items that I might grow," Groff said.

Produce buyers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and Cooper University Hospital in Camden said they were thrilled with their weekly deliveries of peaches, green beans, cucumbers and other items.

The hospital food purchasers said buying locally was part of their broader effort to serve healthier food.

Mary Grant, assistant director for production services at Jefferson, said she tried last year to get local produce through her main food distributor. "It was a trial for them and a trial for us," she said.

Dealing with the Common Market has taken all that frustration away, Grant said, and to her relief as a purchaser on a budget, "pricing is extremely comparable to the big guys." She has placed $1,000 orders with the Common Market.