http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3463236Oh my; apparently all's not well up there in Canada.
marmar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-16-08 01:51 PM
Original message
The Peaceful Revolution in Farmers’ Markets
from the Vancouver Sun, via CommonDreams:
Published on Monday, June 16, 2008 by The Vancouver Sun
The Peaceful Revolution in Farmers’ Markets
by Lynn Perrin
A peaceful revolution is taking place across North America. While it is neither underground nor covert, it may soon be quashed by local and provincial policy-makers. They potentially could assert that the revolution is too risky and that laws must be enacted in the public interest.
The revolutionaries in this case are ordinary consumers and farmers wishing to trade directly in local food products via farmers’ markets. Despite the growing popularity of these markets, they have had to overcome and still face ongoing legal and regulatory barriers that inhibit their expansion. These barriers have been justified in the name of food safety and public order.
Local decision-makers maintain barriers by refusing to alter the Vancouver city bylaw that makes it illegal for anyone to sell fresh fruit and vegetables outdoors without an annual “special event†permit. Farmers’ markets are denied the same five-year space allocations granted to community gardens located on parklands, based on the argument of discouraging flea markets and illegal sales. This lack of longer-term security for farmers’ markets reduces the willingness of farmers to participate and ultimately reduces access to local foods for consumers.
Another example of official barriers to farmers’ markets is the 2007 provincial regulations that have closed down smaller meat processors, thus denying cost-effective access to slaughtering facilities for small-scale farmers raising animals. This change also makes it difficult for both producers and their customers at farmers’ markets to have ensured traceability of the products that are sent off to distant slaughterhouses. This traceability is an important element for consumers wishing to have assured food quality and concerned about issues such as hormone additives, pesticide use and genetically modified ingredients.
The rules governing provincial farmers’ markets require that there be a direct interaction between the grower or processor and the consumer, which ensures traceability. This attribute is lacking in the conventional food industry, which depends on food grown or processed an average of 1,300 miles away and handled by up to six people before it reaches the consumer’s mouth. For growers and processors, direct interaction with people who are going to eat the food they produced is one of the main reasons for selling at farmers’ markets. ......(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/16/9666 /
havocmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-16-08 02:00 PM
Response to Original message
1. Global Agri-Corps want independent producers out of business. Lots of laws now to do that
If you think Cartels controlling fuel is a horrible thing, wait until Cartels control all the food.
Support your local producers and act locally to ensure they can sell their goods to you.
there-s a Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-16-08 04:34 PM
Response to Reply #1
14. I am so jealous of you
Will you be able to get Flathead Valley cherries and huckleberries?
Sure.
As some primitives from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts frankly acknowledged some months ago, "farmers'" markets, at least in that area of the country, sell things grown in.....Florida.
And so I'm sure one can find cherries and huckleberries, even if out of season or out of the growing area.
Dover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-16-08 02:45 PM
Response to Original message
2. As food and fuel prices continue to rise, I expect there will be a Renaissance of home and community gardens, and places to exchange goods.
A good farmer's market will have strict regulations on who can sell there in order to keep out the agri-businesses, cheap and low quality goods like citrus from Mexico where they've been grown without legal oversight, etc. Organic growers, for instance, have a strict set of regulations in order to be able to register as 'organic'.
I don't know about Canada, but the US green markets have, to my knowledge, been operating with few of the problems outlined in that article. It could change, but if serious impediments were to 'crop up', I think it would go from a quiet revolution to a very loud and violent one. People will not tolerate unreasonable controls on food, water and basic necessities.
I read the other day that one grocery store in California will be creating gardens on their roof where they can bypass transportation and other costs and go directly from their garden to the store...only steps away.
A local church in my community is going to transform a 1/2 acre of their land into a church community garden, most of which will go to the local food bank to feed those who need the assistance. It will include a rain collection system for primary watering needs.
There is much one can do to develop food resources closer to home, beginning with a home or community garden for growing some of the most commonly required veggies. And other local sources can be investigated and tapped even if local green markets are not available. Go directly to the source for locally grown and/or produced items, or at least become familiar with what's available should you need it (meat, cheese, dairy, etc.).
Our needs, desires and habits can indeed create a 'quiet revolution' in this country. We can make the most of difficult situations (like food and fuel shortages) by creating new ways of doing things.
franksolich disagrees.
As someone who lives on a spot of ground where plants flourish and thrive and prosper with little or no encouragement from him, it's still easier and cheaper to run down to the grocery store.
The bonfire's mostly the primitives drum-beating for "farmers'" markets.
You know, in Lincoln, Nebraska, the "farmers'" market is a big deal among Democrats, liberals, primitives, and the Starbucks-Ben & Jerry's crowd. They think it's so cool, so hip, so trendy, so with-it, to be buying food out in an open-air market, at stalls tended by rustic-looking people.
I dunno if the stuff in Lincoln comes from Florida, but as it's seasonal, I suspect it's real Nebraska farm products.
Anyway, what's really going on is that these rustic-looking people selling the goods in their weekday lives are really professional people, white-collar people, who don homespun and gingham and bonnets and scarves and overalls.
