36 MARKET troubles nfrom page 35
part of Bruns that might have triggered the termination of his membership in the Revelstoke market society. Bruns believes the
directors of the Revelstoke market simply wanted to circumvent consideration of what market vendors could sell. “They didn’t like it, that I was doing this, and that I had member support to do it,” he said. “So instead of bringing a motion to the annual general meeting to say, ‘let’s put an end to this practice, we no longer think it’s in the best interests of the market’ they decided not to mail me an application form.”
While the winter market includes several vendors from the summer market, Bruns is the only vendor known to have had his membership in the Revelstoke Farm & Craft Market Society terminated. Bruns, for his part, is
looking to the future. The Revelstoke Local Food
Initiative (RLFI) is planning a new market that will include Wild Flight and other local food vendors. The organizing committee will include two RFLI own representatives as well as two members each representing vendors, Revelstoke businesses and the community. A food security co-ordinator will
round out the mix. RLFI is an offshoot of the
North Columbia Environmental Society and enjoys the sponsorship of the city, Columbia Basin Trust and corporations including organic food giant Nature’s Path Foods Inc. It has launched an online survey to determine what people want to see at the new market. The community
engagement encourages Bruns, who says it stands in stark contrast to how the Revelstoke Farm & Craft Market Society engages its membership. Those members, he notes, are limited to vendors selling throughout the season rather than those selling for just a portion. Vendors selling for only part of the season account for a third of vendors at the existing summer market. “People in Revelstoke
think, ‘well, this is our farmers market,’ but in reality it’s not their farmers market at all – it’s the farmers’ market of the seasonal vendors only,” he said. “That’s where the community really wants to make a change. They want a market that’s open, that’s responsive to the community and much more democratic and reflects the reality of Revelstoke.”
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MAY 2017 Local leeway for markets According to the BC Association of Farmers Markets, the intent of farmers markets is to
provide a venue for local makers, bakers and growers. A local product is, given the provincial nature of the association, anything sourced within BC. However, the knotty question of what parts of BC are local to a particular market is something each market has to work out.
“Each farmers’ market is self-regulating in their definition of local,” a position statement on the BCAFM site says. “The consumer should expect transparency and have confidence in knowing the origin of their purchase of primary farm products at each individual farmers’ market throughout British Columbia.” While vendors from across southern BC gather at markets in Vancouver each week because it is a major urban area that’s a draw for both producers with limited local production of products like beef and tree fruits, markets in agricultural communities such as Penticton limit participation to vendors from within a small radius of town. The lack of consistency in what vendors can sell at markets was part of the impetus a decade ago for efforts the Ontario organization Farmers Markets Canada made to establish farmers markets whose vendors were genuine farmers. “We have hucksters and peddlers infiltrating our markets who are creating a horror show
for us,” organizer Bob Chorney told Country Life in BC at the time. The organization’s local contact, the late Mary Forstbauer, said circumstances in BC
weren’t so dire, but she’d met her share of vendors who harvested produce from wholesalers rather than local fields. “They are not people who should be selling at a farmers’ market; they should be selling at a flea market or a public market,” she said. “Not a farmers’ market.”
Beyond the Market program extended
by EMILY BULMER SMITHERS – The agriculture
support and education program Beyond the Market will continue to grow for at least two more years. “With the support of
Farmwest offers resources for BC Farmers ...
• 2016 BC Field Corn Trial Results • BCMA Manure Spreading Advisories • Weather-based Farm Calculators
Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, we were able to leverage $100,000 through the BC Rural Dividend Program” says Susan Stearns, general manager at Community Futures Fraser Fort George. “Aside from continuing the workshops, training and programs we currently deliver, we will focus efforts on education and training to get prepared for export markets, in particular, inter provincial markets like Alberta.” Beyond the Market is an
economic development project created to support and promote business skills and long-term sustainability for the agriculture sector in the north. The popular program has sparked interest all across BC. The most recent request for funding sought to expand the northern model to a provincial scale but the bid to expand has not yet been successful. “The province is interested in the model and the challenge is that we are not the only ones asking for resources,” explains Sterns. “We are still advocating that [a provincial program] would be the ultimate [goal] because that would provide the agriculture sector with solid support to help the
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agriculture businesses grow and develop and become viable entities.”
Though not expanding in
geographic scope, the additional concentration on export markets is part of creating a strong agricultural sector that is economically viable. “We will be creating
workshops over the next couple of years around export, and the Robson Valley is of particular interest as it is the focus of the Rural Dividend application.” Stearns says there is much
work to be done, including research on crop viability and opportunities that are suitable to the particular climate and geography in the Robson Valley. Beyond the Market will also continue to deliver workshops to producers in the vicinity of McBride, Prince George, Vanderhoof, Fort St James, Smithers and Terrace. Each year since its inception in 2010, Beyond the Market has delivered a minimum of four workshops in these six communities, plus a networking event. A directory listing over 100 farms in the region exists to help residents and businesses in the food industry source local produce. The program aims to
increase the number of new farmers across northern BC, increase the viability and capacity of existing farms (especially those in start-up and early growth phases), to improve the succession of longstanding farms to the next generation, and to establish sound agri-business management practices that will result in job creation. For information, visit
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www.beyondthemarket.ca].
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