To market, to market...
September 25, 2009 11:31 AM
At 8:30 in the morning on an unseasonably cold Saturday in September, any questions I had about the presence of students at the local farmers market seemed to be either answered, or just plain redundant.
It was cold, it was gloomy, and I’m fairly certain I was the only student for kilometres around more preoccupied with local producers than with coffee.
However, walking into the market and being greeted with the smell of fresh veggies and hot coffee, the sound of live music and the hustle and bustle of a community both woke me up and renewed my interest. Yet over the course of the next few hours my initial suspicions were confirmed - if you weren’t under 10 years old or over 30 you weren’t at the farmers market.
Considering that age bracket accounts for a large percentage of the towns population for eight months of the year, the absence was noticeable, and questionable.
Vendors at the market range in breadth much in the same way that the aisles of your supermarkets do, with a few notable (and welcome) exceptions.
Stalls full of vegetables, fruit, organic meat, fish, honey, mustards, soaps, cupcakes and mittens line the walls and circle the center of the hall, each of them staffed as a general rule by the person who plucked, knit, baked or caught whatever you’re purchasing.
Terrance Boyle of Forever Green Organic Farms and Gardens pointed out why this is so important as he handed over a bag stuffed with potatoes, onions and squash.
“As a consumer, you’re buying directly from the person who grew it. That person has seen that product all the way through it’s lifespan, and that gives you food security. You know where your food has come from, beginning to end.”
Boyle’s business itself illustrates the reciprocal nature of the farmers market-farming for 24 years, he has been at the market for nine years and certified organic early on.
“Organic is becoming more and more important to the consumer, and being at the farmers market means we’re in contact with 500 - 1000 of those consumers in just a few hours.”
Boyle wasn’t the only one who made mention of the important link created between consumers and producers at the market; though that link could be seen everyone you looked. The farmers market operates on some of the purest business principles there are, supply and demand.
Every purchase you make is a proclamation of your preference, your taste and your need, and that information is directly relayed to the producer who takes your money.
Ellie MacDonald Fleming of Cakes by Ellie noted the lack of students in that supply and demand chain, and highlighted the eternal student concern - money. “Farmers markets are mutually beneficial to both the consumer and producer - you’re not paying the middle man, there isn’t an increase in a price, and there develops a reciprocal relationship between the producer and the consumer.”
With such a large influx of students into the community every year, StFX stands to have a substantial impact on the local economy, and perhaps in a more liver-friendly manner than at the local pub.
“In a small town with a smaller economy, the farmers market is great for small businesses,” Fleming added between customers, “It’s important that money in the community goes back into the community instead of into big box stores.”
By attending the market, students can save a lot of money, and the money they do spend goes back into the community that welcomes them year after year, it’s of merit to everyone involved.
The disconnect between the farmers market and the student body isn’t just about money. Crispin Cornect, owner of Simply Ducky, believes that the link between the market and students is more about edification than economy.
“Unless students grow up in a town with a farmers market or they make a concerted effort to look for alternative sources of food outside big box stores, students don’t really realize the advantages of shopping at a market, or know about it at all.”
This is a bigger problem than just buying your potatoes at Superstore implies, suggests Cornect,
“It’s important for students to come to farmers markets - the impressions students make while at StFX are impressions that they are going to carry with them throughout their lives. If students have lasting impressions of sustainable farming and available goods that precede their thinking about big box stores, then that’s what they’ll take with them. Not just as a place to shop for groceries, but as a possible sustainable job and potential for being the cornerstone of their income.”
Meghan Macdonald, a 4th year biology student (and one of the few I ran into at the market) echoed the importance of student links to the community in other ways.
“There is definitely a social aspect, where people living in the community can come together, students and otherwise. You get to learn about each other and show your support for local friends and businesses.”
Still, Meghan confirms this is only her second time at the market, though her fourth year at StFX.
This is part of the reason the Cornect spearheaded organization of The Market at X, Thursday September 24th from 11-3 in the MacKay Room (SUB).
“This is our attempt to make direct contact with students, to show them what the market, and their community has to offer them.”
The Market at X will bring the farmers market a few blocks closer and a few hours later to the students of StFX, allowing them to see what’s usually available to them only Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. until noon. In turn, students get first hand demonstration of the viability of small business and local economy, impressions that will hopefully last into their own professional careers and lifelong consumer choices.
For the majority of producers that I spoke with at the farmers market, this wasn’t just an economic venture, this was an exercise in community building, one that most were concerned StFX students were missing out on. Each person emphasized the opportunity that sometimes comes too seldom to directly connect students to the community at large in a way that helps both populations. Students can purchase excellent quality food at great prices, and local producers have the chance to demonstrate the viability of small businesses..Wayne Johnson, a wine consultant for Sainte-Famille Wines offers perhaps a less esoteric and potentially more student friendly reason for coming down to the market.
“We have a “Try Before you Buy” approach, which the Provincial liquor store doesn’t really offer, “ laughs Johnson. “Coming to the farmers market lets you look at local producers and pick up local foods for dinner, then I can help you pair food with wine, whether you want to pair it with a fine meal or with Kraft dinner and a burger, I can help!”
Surely students will raise a local glass of wine to that.
