With an estimated 2,000 people during its launch day and about 500 last Saturday, the new Gilbert Farmers Market has quickly become a big draw for shoppers.

On both days, however, one thing was missing: farmers.

"That was the conversation of the day, because without a farmer, it wasn't a farmers market," founder Jessa Koppenhofer said.

It was not for lack of trying. During the past two weeks, Koppenhofer had contacted 168 farmers and growers in Arizona, only to get the same answer: They were committed to other farmers markets and/or didn't have enough produce to sell.

So far, only one grower, Carl Seacat from Seacat Gardens in Litchfield Park, has agreed to participate and sell his organic produce on Saturdays. Starting this week,shoppers can anticipate lettuce, beet greens, radishes, cucumbers, eggplant, okra and chard from Seacat Gardens.

Julie Murphree, spokeswoman for the Gilbert-based Arizona Farm Bureau, said Arizona has about 15,000 farms and ranches.

"There's a lot of agriculture in Arizona," Murphree said. "But we have a limited number of farmers and ranchers that sell directly" to consumers.

The majority of farmers markets their produce through cooperatives and to the commodity market. The percentage of direct market farmers and ranchers who sell directly to people via the Internet, through "U-pick" operations and at farmers markets, is less than 10 percent, she said.

And that small percentage of farmers is in demand among the 40-60 farmers markets in the Valley. Statewide, there are 80 to 100 farmers markets.

"Not many are structured to support the numerous and growing farmers markets," Murphree said of Arizona farms and ranches.

Seacat grows vegetables on a leased acre at Blue Sky Farm in Litchfield Park. Some of his produce is heirloom, meaning the vegetable has been grown for about 50 years as a single variety without cross-breeding.

A large volume of Seacat's produce is sold to restaurants.

Participating in the Gilbert Farmers Market is a strategic move for Seacat, who also participates in farmers markets in downtown Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sedona and Flagstaff, and was looking to expand to the Southeast Valley.

In Gilbert, Koppenhofer could have had sellers bring produce from Mexico or California, but she declined.

"We're trying to support local. If it's going to take longer to find farmers, I'm OK with that because I only want to bring the best in for the Gilbert Farmers Market," she said.

Seacat said it was hard to compete in farmers markets with imported produce.

"It's very difficult for those of us who grow only seasonal vegetables to compete at other farmers markets with other producers who have stuff from California that we don't sell," Seacat said. "People tend to flock to that and ignore growers who try to do the right thing."

But expanding to Gilbert won't be easy for the Peoria resident, who finds Gilbert "way out of the way."

Besides the distance, there's the work that needs to be done.

Preparing for Saturday's farmers markets takes all of Friday, when he has to find, pick/cut, gather, wash and pack the vegetables in boxes in Litchfield Park and take them to cold storage in Peoria. On Saturday, he rises around 4 a.m. to transport the produce, first to Phoenix, then to Scottsdale and then to Gilbert, where he has to set up by 8 a.m.

"It's incredibly time-consuming for us to do this and get to all the markets," he said.

"This stuff is really difficult to do. Almost all of us are swamped - we have much more than we can handle," he said.

Must he sell all the produce that he brings to market to make his time worthwhile? "We have very high quality produce," Seacat replied. "We'll do well."

Koppenhofer said participants must bring tents, tables, chairs, banners, a scale and other sundries necessary to conduct sales. She estimates that a farmer needs to invest about $1,000 for supplies.

Dayna Love, a small grower in Gilbert, participated in the Scottsdale farmers market for two weeks in the summer. Her experience there was not positive and Love said she wasted her time and produce. Shoppers passed the smaller growers with their limited produce and went straight to the large stands.

"There was so much competition from the larger produce growers," Love said. "It's horrible to pick your harvest and then not be able to sell it. It's such a waste. I decided I would rather see it go to families every week and know that it's going somewhere."

Meanwhile, at the Gilbert market, the food vendors reported brisk sales.

Lorena Quinones, a vendor for Dr. Hummus, Mediterranean dips produced in an industrial kitchen in Tempe, said that on launch day she sold out the line's best-selling jalape�o and cilantro hummus and the sun dried tomato pesto, about 35 jars of them, before noon.

"I also ran out of chips; I wasn't expecting so many people," said the Arizona State University student, who plans to bring twice as much for the upcoming Gilbert markets. "I've worked at several markets but there's never so much foot traffic."

However hard it is to find sellers with fresh, local produce, the lure of the farmers market is hard to resist, Murphree said.

"In a farmers market you can find more unique varieties of produce, such as heirloom tomatoes or unusual varieties of arugula," she said. "Also, being outdoors, it brings a sense of community."