Truly Local

Slippery Slope in Tasmania

The seven-year-old farmers market in Burnie, in the Australian state of Tasmania, has lost its scruples over the years, to the dismay of some erstwhile supporters, according to a report in The Mercury, Tasmania's largest daily newspaper.  On a recent visit at the peak of summer Down Under, Elaine Reeves found 30 vendors selling an array of items ranging from tomatoes and basil to rhubarb and venison. But it wasn’t all locally produced by those who were peddling it, Reeves noted. The market “has drifted away from the purist ideal that only people who grow, raise, brew, bake, catch, pluck or make the food can sell goods at the market,” she wrote, explaining how the market gradually lost its way.

"Firstly, people who were not farmers were given permission to sell food -- as long as they got the food directly from a farm. Then an 80:20 rule came in -- stallholders could buy in 20 per cent of what they sold in order to provide a range of produce, but what they bought had to be Tasmanian. Now the committee that runs the market allows stallholders to source everything from the wholesaler if they want to.

 

"This all-encompassing definition of ‘farmer’ is frustrating for people who do grow their own -- either as a business or to sell the surplus from home gardens. It has also been deeply disappointing for organics advocate Graeme Stevenson, who was involved in the market from the start, but has quit now. He says he's ‘worn down’ by the new policy."

Reeves discovered that stallholders who fill their tables with wholesale produce realize they are scamming consumers who are drawn to the so-called farmers market, presumably on the assumption that they are buying directly from farmers. One vendor had no qualms about lying.

"One woman assured me that her copious and varied array of fruit and vegetables was all from her own garden, including the uniformly huge iceberg lettuces packed in lettuce boxes and apricots in cartons marked ‘stonefruit’."

Rooting Imposters Out of Farmers Markets Down Under

Business is booming at the 30 or so farmers markets in the state of Victoria, in Australia, according to The Age, the daily paper in Melbourne. An increasing number of Australians want to know where their food comes from, and want to support local growers, and consumers believe they can fulfill both those goals by patronizing farmers markets. Those consumers, unfortunately, are all too often cheated by imposters, Age columnist Olivia Hill-Douglas regrets to report. Well-meaning shoppers who learn they've been scammed often react by never coming back:

"People's trust in the authenticity of farmers' markets can be easily destroyed. Just ask Sophie O'Neil, a long-time farmers' market manager and advocate. In Brisbane, she and a friend shopped for that night's dinner at a local farmers' market. When they got home, O'Neil found the garlic her friend had bought was far from local. 'It was netted with "Product of China" on it,' she says. '(My friend) said to me: "But it's a farmers' market." ' And so she was really disheartened and consequently she's never been back to one."

Two farmers quoted in the story -- a blueberry grower named Mal Deveson and George Nicolas, an olive oil maker -- said self-regulation has worked fairly well to keep imposters out of markets:

"When the concept of farmers' markets first blossomed in Victoria, Deveson says that there were sometimes cases of on-selling that went on in some less-well-run markets, but 'you soon know whether or not someone's going to Footscray and buying a load of vegies and trying to sell them. Very quickly we realised we needed to be at markets where the management criteria were strong; where the ethics were strong,' he continues. 'And I enjoy knowing that they are genuine farmers.'...

"In recent years unscrupulous sellers hoping to hitch a ride on the farmers' market bandwagon have been few. 'Stallholders intimately know the other stallholders. So if someone tries to come in with a product line that's a bit dodgy it gets nipped in the bud straight away. That hasn't happened for a while,' Nicolas says."

However, Deveson, Nicolas and other farmers market advocates believe it's time to set up an accreditation program. The government has taken steps to do just that:

"As the markets grow in size and number, it's important, O'Neil says, that there be a practical system of accreditation to maintain the public's level of trust. In November, the State Government pledged $2 million to help the Victoria Farmers' Market Association introduce accreditation and sales standards, and the association is looking at overseas models to determine what will suit Victoria's needs.... It's still some way off, but market managers and stallholders are already doing a good job of ensuring that what you buy will be seasonal, local, and definitely won't carry a Product of China label."