Calgary Farmers' Market

Since my Fast Forward article last week on the Calgary Farmers' Market I have been thinking about the local food movement in Calgary.

I first got interested in all the drama going on at the CFM when I read a blog post by Wade Sirois, co-owner of Forage and Infuse Catering. It got more interesting when the market manager refused to return my phone calls, was constantly in meetings when I visited the market and none of the vendors would talk about anything to do with the market. It was so bad, that one vendor, who told me that he didn't want to talk and didn't know anything anyway phoned me back later that day to beg me not to mention him at all in my story. He was petrified! Is this not completely ridiculous?

I finally got some answers from some vendors at the CFM but it seems like the CFM is far from the best way to get local food to consumers. Especially since so much of the stuff they sell is not local. Bananas? Passion fruit? Sometimes I wonder if everyone is aware that they aren't necessarily buying local at the CFM. I know what questions to ask, but do the suburban moms with their tote bags and baby carriages full of the same product that is sold to Safeway? In my opinion, farmers' markets should not only be about local producers, but micro-producers. If the farmers' market is filled with distributors selling products from giant operations it doesn't matter if it is local or organic or whatever. It will destroy one of the most important traditions in Canada -- the family farm.

Some other interesting info from the rumour mill. In my discussions with Wade, it came up that while the farmers' market pays Canada Lands $4 a square foot, vendors pay the market $80 a square foot. So what does the market do with all that extra money?

Obviously some of it has to go to infrastructure, things like electricity and water, but where else is this money going? Advertising is a big one, which is a bit of a problem for me -- aren't farmers' markets supposed to be shared by communities, by word of mouth, by friends, family?

I really can't imagine what it must be like that for vendors at that market right now. I am genuinely worried that the one vendor brave enough to use his name in my article will face fines, or worse repercussions. He assured me that they have a strong following and will be successful whether they are part of the CFM or not. I truly believe this about most of the producers there.

It's such a shit show. How can a farmers' market function when none of the vendors know what is going on. Maybe I'm naive in thinking that we can buy products directly from a farmer without middle-men, where the producer has total control over their product. But I think it needs to happen, I (and I think Wade) am hoping that some of the CFM vendors will get so fed up they leave and start a pure farmers market.

No bouncy castles. No food court. No US produce. (Or Mexico for that matter!) No distributors. Just a farmer with his product and me with money. Period. Why is this such a difficult thing to accomplish?

Oh, and apparently all the Fast Forwards at the CFM disappeared on Friday when there are usually some left at the end of the week. Just sayin'.