APRIL 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Farmers’ markets aim to be local food hubs
Rebranding, new online initiatives aim to boost public profile by PETER MITHAM
KIMBERLEY – “Cultivating community” was the official theme, but making farmers’ markets the go-to source for local food was the message as close to 120 people gathered for the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets’ annual conference in Kimberley, March 8-10. “You are the face of local
food across British Columbia, and I want to thank you for being there,” said NDP MP Wayne Stetski of Kootenay- Columbia. Stetski has put forward a private member’s bill seeking recognition of the Friday before Thanksgiving as National Local Food Day. Reinforcing that identity
was key to a rebranding initiative the association undertook last year, following research by the Farm|Food|Drink Business Advisory Team, headed by managing director Greg McLaren. “We’re suggesting that we
rethink, reframe how we look at BC farmers’ markets and how best they get promoted and explained to stakeholders and consumers at large,” he told the association last year. The result was a new logo
displayed prominently at this year’s conference. “There are a lot of folks that
are saying local – and promoting local – and maybe the term has been bastardized a bit,” said McLaren. “It’s time for the farmers’ markets to rise to the top and be recognized as the leaders.”
The new logo is colourful
and breaks up the existing badge shape of the logo into five segments designed to represent a market layout. Silhouettes of popular products – an apple, carrot, and chickens – are
incorporated into the design. McLaren said the aim was to better represent what people could find at markets in a way that resonates and displays well on mobile devices. Concurrent with the brand
refresh is a new website for members, streamlining information and providing easier access to the resources market managers and vendors need to be successful.
The initiatives set up plans
for the coming summer, providing a common brand to
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help foster a unified identity that positions farmers’ markets across the province as “the source for local food.” Provincial funding through Buy BC is enabling the distribution of two sandwich boards to every member market featuring the association’s new logo. The boards will allow markets to promote themselves while establishing a common identity with other markets and public recognition of them as the place to “Buy BC.” In addition, markets can
order an allocation of a farmers’ market beer custom brewed for the association by Persephone Brewing of Gibsons.
The initiatives complement ongoing development of the BC Farmers’ Market Trail resource. The online guide lists every market in the province and is being developed to provide visitors with information on markets around the province in partnership with Destination BC, which coordinates the province’s tourism marketing initiatives. Kootenay markets were
covered last year, and the project will expand to Northern BC, the Sunshine Coast, Cariboo-Chilcotin- Coast and Vancouver Island & Gulf Islands tourist regions this year. The association is seeking funding partners to extend the initiative into 2020. With 11,000 unique visitors in its first month, the project was part of what outgoing
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Miche Warwick of the Rossland Mountain Market Society was named farmers’ market manager of the year during the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets conference in Kimberly on March 9. BCAFM PHOTO
BCAFM president Wylie Bystedt called “a year of wins” in comments read by vice- president Vickey Brown at the association’s 20th annual general meeting. (Bystedt could not attend.)
The association ended the
year in good financial shape, with $1.9 million in assets, and promises of more cash to come in support of the nutrition coupon program that allows low-income families and seniors to purchase fresh, local food. During the conference, the Columbia Basin Trust pledged $375,000 to the program over three years. “This organization is finding money and spreading it across the province,” remarked treasurer Laura Smit. “We are an economic development driver.” To maintain their position
as a source for local food, BCAFM executive director
Heather O’Hara asked members to consider how to accommodate online markets under the BCAFM umbrella. Projects such as VFM Direct, an initiative of the Vancouver Farmers Market, allows restaurants and institutions to place orders and pick up on market days. Other initiatives also work alongside or complement local markets and their vendors, including the Cow-Op in Duncan and Kootenay Farms Marketplace in Creston.
While the strength of a
farmers’ market is the point of real-world connection it provides, O’Hara feels the two can work in tandem similar to the clicks-and-mortar model of other retailers that combines online and streetfront venues. “It would be a
strengthening exercise,” O’Hara said of
accommodating online markets. “I’m worried about us losing our markets if we don’t innovate.”
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