So the
Kitchener Farmers Market is adopting the
Farmers Markets Ontario VERIFIED Farmers' Market Vendor system. Under this process, truly local producers selling only their own products can become "Verified Local" vendors & be identified as such so it is clearer to customers what they are buying.
According to the program backgrounder, "Farmers were being literally squeezed out of existing markets by resellers who continued to glut the market with food terminal sell-offs and, in some cases, told there was no room for them to sell at market.... FMO [Farmers Markets Ontario] is hopeful that we will start a trend where only real farmers with their own products will be found at markets across Ontario."
Awesome!
There will be annual inspections of "Verified Local" farms to make sure no one's cheating (the application form was quite involved!), and best of all the Kitchener Market & FMO are paying for the process so it's no extra cost to farmers. Watch for this designation when you're shopping this summer!!
Only 2 months until we start showing up for market again - hooray!