Haier is perhaps best known for the story of how, in the mid-1990s, they unexpectedly recognized the use of their washing machines by peasants in Sichuan province to make their fruits and vegetables more attractive for the newly emerging free markets, and then developed softer agitators to deliver on that need.

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We shop at farmers' markets for fresh eggs, cheese and garden vegetables.

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These markets provide affordable, convenient and healthful access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

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The deadliest foods to be found on the stalls in street markets and the shelves of supermarkets, though, are not meat or poultry but leafy vegetables and fruit.

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From now through September these fruits and vegetables, and others like them, will be practically falling over the tables and bins at the farmers markets throughout the city, sharing space reserved for the standbys such as string beans, beets and carrots.

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