Market plans to make produce origins clearer
Peterborough Farmers’ Market in process of reviewing its bylaws, strategic plan, president stated
The Peterborough Saturday Farmers’ Market plans to make it clearer to shoppers where the produce is grown, according to its president.
Cindy Hope, president of the market, released a written statement via email Friday evening.
Hope didn’t explain exactly how the market will make it clearer to shoppers where the food is grown, and she wasn’t available for an interview.
Hope has denied interview requests by The Examiner for stories published in the past week.
The Examiner has also been unable to speak with Mark Jones, the market board member responsible for marketing and media,
Hope runs Crosswind Farm in Keene with her husband, and has a stall in the market selling products such as goat cheese.
“The Peterborough District Farmers’ Market (PDFMA) is currently in the process of reviewing its bylaws and strategic plan,” Hope wrote in her statement.
“As part of its review, the PDFMA is aiming to increase transparency regarding the origin of the products and crafts in a way that is beneficial to both shoppers and vendors. The PDFMA’s review is close to completion, and its results will be presented to its membership in due course.”
Hope was writing in response to a series of stories about the market. There’s been conflict lately between resellers and local farmers.
Re-sellers vendors who are buy produce at places such as the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto and re-sell it, often without clear indication to the shopper that the food isn’t homegrown.
The Examiner reported that Catherine Clark, the executive director of Farmers’ Markets Ontario, says the board of directors of the Saturday market in Peterborough is run by resellers – and that they make up their own rules as they go along.
The Examiner also reported that Lauren Nurse, a local organic farmer, was dismissed from the market this summer.
Nurse said the reason given didn’t make sense: a letter from Hope said it was because other farmers were selling the same food, and the board sought to avoid duplication.
But Nurse said she would have offered produce otherwise unavailable at the market: ginger and turmeric, for instance.
“I’m a farmer and I can’t get into the farmers’ market,” she told The
Examiner. “It’s nuts.” Hope was unavailable for an interview when the story was published.
But she writes in her release that the market is made up of every type of farmer, from multi-generational ones to “niche producers”.
Each brings their own philosophy, she wrote – the market embraces that variety, and also seeks to offer a wide variety of food for sale.
“As a result of its commitment to variety, and owing to limited space, the PDFMA cannot always accommodate the demands of all vendors,” she wrote. “The PDFMA supports all farmers who have a positive impact on the Canadian food distribution system as a whole.”
Yet Nurse questions how it’s fair to have resellers and shut out local growers.
She said she often saw vendors peeling the stickers off produce they bought at the food terminal, when she had a stall at the market earlier this year.
“We totally saw people peeling stickers off,” she said. “It’s food fraud.”