A majority of vendors at the farmers market in Warrentown, Va., have voted to approve a controversial plan that would allow them to resell wholesale produce. The market has been a “producer-only” operation in recent years, according to a March 19 report on the hotly disputed proposal in the Fauquier Times-Democrat. But the vendors who pressed for the change asserted that customers are unhappy with the lack of variety.
Sabrey Alshakarwi, who has been peddling teas and spices at the market for more than 20 year, complained that he was “getting a headache” explaining to customers why the farmers market couldn’t match what the local Giant supermarket was offering. He was in favor of giving customers what they want, and so he sided with the majority of vendors who considered the proposal at the market association’s annual meeting. On a 10-5 vote that opponents say was tainted by low turnout, the vendors decided to switch from a producer-only market to what they will call a “Virginia-grown market.”
Under the new rule, up to 20 percent of what vendors will be allowed to sell at the farmers market can consist of items purchased elsewhere and resold. Supposedly, it will be produce grown by other Virginia farmers, a restriction to be enforced by requiring resellers to show receipts. But some of the farmers who sell at the market and strongly oppose the plan are skeptical. They fear the real growers, and in turn the entire market, will be undermined by even a limited encroachment of wholesale produce. As Kelly Alm, a reporter for the Times-Democrat, noted:
Jim Mello, who has been selling at the Warrenton market for 21 years, said he wants the market to stay a producers-only market. “It’s compelling that you can stand in front of a customer and say, ‘I grew this,’ and tell them how you grew it, and what you put on it, and even encourage them to grow it themselves,” he said.
Eric Plaskin of Waterpenny Farm in Rappahannock agreed. “I grow everything I sell,” Plaskin said. “I think it's dangerous to mess with that.” Plaskin said that his economic success is based on being part of a market selling locally produced food. “This is not about reselling,” Plaskin said. “It's about going directly to the source.”
Sue Olinger, a new market board member said that the transition would allow vendors to bring in early and late crops from other parts of Virginia, making “the market more viable for the entire year.” … However, Mello also pointed out how opening the market to early crops risks “taking the top of the market,” and forcing those vendors who produce the same product to lower their price.
Others wondered how the 20 percent would be quantified and enforced. “Are we talking 20 percent of the market value, 20 percent of volume, 20 percent of the quantity in the display space?” Plaskin asked.
All of the vendors at the annual meeting agreed on one thing. If the market does abandon its producer-only policy, vendors who are selling products they did not grow should at least be required to put up signs disclosing that to customers. As Alm observed, those who don’t resell produce may well also choose to let shoppers know that. “Those who grow all of their own produce will most likely want to market as such to continue attracting customers to whom buying locally and directly from the producer is important,” Alm wrote.
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