Fighting
For Our Farmers' Markets
Back in 1995 when Pearl Ward first looked into selling her
farm-fresh eggs at the local farmers' market, she was told
that the only equipment she needed was a candler and a weigh
scale. Last month, a food inspection agent visited the Perth
Farmers' Market, and informed Pearl that she would be unable
to continue selling those eggs unless they were first sent
away for grading or graded at her farm.
 In
order to grade eggs at her own farm, Pearl was told she would
be required to build a separate facility that includes two
refrigerators (one for graded and the other for ungraded eggs),
special sinks, solutions in which to rinse the eggs, and even
a white uniform that she must wear to perform the grading
procedures. She will no longer be able to re-use her egg cartons,
and every new carton must now include the name of her farm
and the license number of the egg grading facility she uses.
Apparently she is still allowed to use the same candler and
weigh scale she has had for years, but given that Pearl usually
sells between 2 and 5 dozen eggs each week, this small concession
is not likely to bring the whole package into a price range
that she can afford.
According to Lynne Parks, president of the Perth Farmers'
Market, this recent attack on small farm vendors may be only
the tip of the iceberg, with restrictions on sales of preserves,
baked goods and other staples of the market potentially just
around the corner. And if taken to the extreme, such restrictions
could even extend to school bake sales and church fundraisers.
Rural Revolution
In order to combat such an onslaught, members of the Perth
Farmers' Market are organizing a protest on Saturday, September
11th during market hours (8AM-1PM at the Crystal Palace along
the Tay River in downtown Perth). Vendors will be staging
mock trials for crimes committed by local growers, music will
be provided by the Tweed Twangers, and those scoff-law radical
egg vendors will even be selling ungraded eggs. Lending support
to the Perth vendors will be members of the Lanark Landowners'
Association (LLA), who plan to arrive in their trademark tractor
convoy and sell beef at $1.99 per pound - which is mush closer
to what farmers actually receive for their labour than supermarket
prices. According to Randy Hillier, president of the LLA,
this latest attack "illustrates how government regulations
are depriving small producers of their markets. If the Farmers'
Market doesn't support its members, one day they're going
to wake up and wonder where all the vendors went. Today it's
the egg vendors, tomorrow it will be the cider producers and
the vegetable growers." This event will be called a "Rural
Revolution" with farmers, local politicians and hopefully
plenty of consumers protesting against what they believe to
be unfair regulations.
Defining the Farm Gate
Lynne Parks explains that the goal of this day of protest
is very clear: farmers hope to persuade the government to
extend the "Farm Gate" regulations to the farmers'
market. Produce and products sold at the farm gate are not
subject to the same processing requirements as those destined
for re-sale; for example, it is perfectly legal for farmers
to sell ungraded eggs at the end of their laneways. It has
long been assumed by those same farmers that it was also legal
to drive those same eggs a few extra kilometers to the local
farmers' market and sell them there, but apparently that may
not be the case.
According to Lynne Parks, some of the confusion stems from
the fact that farm gate regulations are dictated federally
by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) but are enforced
provincially by local health unit officials. After spending
several hours searching the internet for information on what
constitutes farm gate sales, I can easily understand how a
farmer could become confused. A Google search yielded a link
to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food website (www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/food/inspection/eggs)
which did indeed stipulate "The regulations require that
all eggs retailed beyond the farm gate be graded." A
Government of Manitoba site (www1.agric.gov.ab.ca)
proclaimed the following: "When the Camerons sell their
chickens to a consumer at the Alberta Approved Farmers' Market,
they are conducting a farm direct sale. The u-pick is also
a farm direct sales operation. If Pat were to process strawberries
into jam and sell the jam at a farm store, this would also
be a direct sale. However, an attempt to find a definitive
definition for farm gate by searching the CFIA website for
both "farm gate regulations" and "farm gate
definition," was rewarded with a perfunctory "No
documents matching your query were found."
The Bigger Picture
You don't have to look far these days to get the strong message
that family farms are an endangered species at serious risk
of becoming extinct. Drive out of the city (past the sprawl
of new residential developments seeping out over formerly
fertile agricultural land… that's it… keep going)
until you reach farmland, and you're likely to see billboards
informing you that there is in fact a connection between our
farms and our food supply. Talk to a local grower at a farmers'
market or roadside stand, and you're likely to hear about
how an off-farm income is now needed just to keep them afloat.
Rick and Sue Cheeseman of Pinnacle Farms in Maberly have done
a tremendous job of researching and trying to inform people
about how family farms are threatened, and along with them
a healthy, reliable, sustainable food supply (check out their
website at www.pinnaclefarms.ca
and follow the links to the Farm Facts or Fiction web-based
movie for way more information than can fit in this article).
 When
I asked Rick why he feels it is so important to extend the
farm gate regulations to farmers' markets, he replied: "As
far as I can see, there are just two human cultures on the
planet: urban and rural. Today, at every level from local
to global, rural areas are being sacrificed for urban comforts.
Over 75% of the populations of Europe, North America, and
Japan live in cities. Though the United States leads the way,
all others are following them down the road to obesity. Meanwhile,
the vast majority of rural (displaced or in situ) people are
facing lower and lower incomes and longer and longer working
hours. It is fact that, at every level and all around the
world, urban areas (and the people) are getting richer while
rural areas (and the people) are getting poorer. Globally,
1.3 billion people work in agriculture and 2.5 billion depend
on the sector: most of them are poor. Imagine a city where
90% of the population is living in poverty.
How many urban people know that if the trucks stop rolling,
they will be out of food in 3 days? I hope they wake up soon.
In the 60's, all the indicators and researchers said we had
40 years to set things right. They were correct. Hence, my
reason to risk the wrath of Canada Food and Inspection Agency
- if this little thing can be blown up enough, and enough
people pick up the pamphlets and look at Farm Facts and/or
send the letter to the PM, then there will be pressure for
changes to start from the top down, as well as the bottom
up."
You can help ensure that Farmers' Market remain as viable,
sustainable alternatives to large chain supermarkets. Come
out to the Perth Farmers' Market on September 11th, buy some
eggs, read some pamphlets, and find out how to make your voice
heard.
- Kris Riendeau
|
Site design by
|