Most Saturday farmers’ market sellers are not farm product producers

Peterborough Public Health documents put the number at below 50%

Over the past few years, conflicts involving the membership of the Peterborough and District Farmers’ Market Association (PDFMA) have been well reported. While the organization is working at improving relations with its members and customers, it continues to operate in the shadow of a power struggle between local farmers who grow and sell their own farm products, and those who purchase products elsewhere and truck them to the market for resale.

Two pivotal issues remain at hand. The first is the authenticity of the offering: That is, are sellers accurately and transparently revealing the origins of the food they are selling and are consumers being kept in the dark or misled about such origins? The PDFMA has made some progress on this front with the recent rollout of its new signage program – an action I recommended last fall – that welcomes both local growers and resellers and is guided by the principles of informed customer choice and truth in advertising.

The second issue is the public preference – some would say expectation – for an offering whose primary purpose is to support local farmers who grow and sell their own products. The PDFMA now requires all of its produce and products to be grown and produced anywhere in Ontario. Because few would perceive this as being “local,” it continues to be contentious. In fact, it comes as a surprise to many that the market is not exclusively reserved for local producers who grow and sell their own farm goods, as is the case with some markets elsewhere, including the Downtown Farmers’ Market and the Lakefield Farmers’ Market.

To what extent does the Peterborough Farmers’ Market serve local growers who sell their own products? Under the Ontario Food Premises Regulation 562, (FPR) the Association of Supervisors of Public Health Inspectors of Ontario has established guidelines to direct local public health units in their oversight of farmers’ markets. As part of that process, the PDFMA is required to submit annual information on its sellers to Peterborough Public

Health (PPH) for assessment. A summary of this information for the years 2013 through 2018, obtained through freedom of information legislation, contains some surprising results.

In each of these years, including 2018, the stall operators at the Peterborough Farmers’ Market identified by the PDFMA as producers of farm products who primarily sell their own products have been in the minority. That means the majority of stall operators are not producers who are primarily selling their own products. Over the six-year period, only 40 to 48 per cent of stall operators – never a majority – have been producers of the farm products that they sell. This PDFMA information has been assessed and verified by PPH.

As a result of the dominance of non-producers, the Peterborough Farmers’ Market does not meet the FPR definition of a “Farmer’s Market” – a place at which “the majority of the persons operating the stalls or other food premises are producers of farm products who are primarily selling or offering for sale their own products.” This means that the market is not exempt from the Regulation and is subject to its stringent controls.

The City of Peterborough has chosen not to exercise its legislative authority to regulate the market by by-law, as it is entitled to do; not to open the operation of the market to competition; and not to present its license with the PDFMA to city councillors. When it considers the PDFMA license renewal in April, it might at least have discussions about how it can help create a farmers’ market focused primarily on serving local farm producers who sell their own products.

‘As a result of the dominance of non-producers, the Peterborough Farmers’ Market does not meet the FPR definition of a ‘Farmer’s Market’’ DAVID GOYETTE