{"id":3017,"date":"2010-07-09T11:46:51","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T15:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingottawa.ca\/?p=3017"},"modified":"2013-01-21T09:19:55","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T14:19:55","slug":"focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus on food hurting City’s vision for farmers’ markets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

__________<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month\u2019s unseasonably warm weather has had me looking forward the 2010 farmers\u2019 market season. While cautious in my own gardening habits \u2013 I did not plant early lettuce, beans, peas, radishes etc\u2026 – I have been patiently waiting for the arrival of fresh spring vegetables after a winter\u2019s worth of rather tired greens, canned tomatoes and heavy root veggies. A great thing about Ottawa is that many neighbourhoods within the City\u2019s urban core are well-served by farmers\u2019 markets (Parkdale\/West Wellington, Mainstreet\/Old Ottawa South, the Glebe). These markets offer opportunities to buy fresh produce, often grown by people within the Ottawa valley. However, recent debate over the \u201cvalue\u201d of one of the City\u2019s markets \u2013 the Ottawa\u2019s Farmers\u2019 Market located in Parking Lot #4 of Lansdowne Park \u2013 raises some questions about just exactly how the City sees \/ understands the role of the farmer\u2019s market in the modern city. Specifically, recent staff reports and Council decisions heavily emphasize the economic role of the farmers\u2019 market rather than broadly interpreting the market as a public good.<\/p>\n

Since 2005, the Ottawa Farmers\u2019 Market has received a subsidized lease for vendor space at Lansdowne Park. This lease was recently extended by City Council on April 28, 2010 based on the premise that the market continues to achieve the goals originally set when it was a launched as a pilot project five years ago. The on-going mandate of the pilot project is \u201cfor the purpose of marketing premium quality Ottawa region farm produce produced only by the vendor and to improve production of, and stimulate public interest in and increase consumption of these products.\u201d The staff report<\/a> explains that the market has been successful for its \u201csignificant economic and cultural contributions made by Ottawa’s rural communities\u201d and for its compliance with goals outlined in the City’s Strategic Plan. The report goes on to provide a detailed financial account of the subsidy, but does not return to the issue of \u201ccultural contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on the report, two things struck me as indicative of how the City understands its farmers\u2019 markets. First is the emphasis on the rural aspect of the market and the primary role of the food producer within the market structure. The mandate for the market was issued out of the 2005 Rural Summit and issues relating to the market are decided and debated in the Rural Affairs Committee. In addition, a draft report on the Ottawa Farmers\u2019 Market<\/a> obtained by the Ottawa Citizen\u00a0 reinforces this rural mindset, suggesting that the market be limited to \u201clocal farmer-producers\u201d and recommending that other vendors (e.g. bakeries, prepared food vendors) be shifted off the immediately subsidized site so as not to \u201cdilute the vision and take the market away from the expressed goals and objectives of helping farmers in the region sell food products to urban Ottawa residents.\u201d While there clearly would be no market without food producers, not all food production must necessarily happen in rural areas \u2013 witness the rise of spin farming and market garden plots within urban areas. Also, this line of reasoning neglects new connections between food producers and home-based food processors (baked goods, canned goods etc\u2026) that are starting to populate market stalls (e.g. Pascale\u2019s Ice Cream and the Piggy Market stall). In short, casting food production as solely a rural issue obscures the work of urban-based producers.<\/p>\n

Second, as described in the staff report and also reported in the Citizen<\/a>,\u00a0 the main factor in the decision to extend the subsidized lease at Lansdowne was the question of the overall economic value of the farmers\u2019 market. This issue of value was framed principally around whether the market continued to benefit \u201clocal industry\u201d and whether there was a \u201cburden\u201d on City taxpayers to subsidize a successful enterprise. This focus on the economic benefit and burden of the market is focused on two particular groups of people \u2013 those who sell at the market and taxpayers generally. There is surprisingly little consideration for those people who shop, socialize and learn things about food at the market.<\/p>\n

What is missing from this debate is a broader discussion about the overall contribution of the market in terms of building a more livable city. In the case at Lansdowne, there was no consideration of how the farmers\u2019 market does a remarkably good job of enlivening an otherwise dead space \u2013 a parking lot \u2013 and how the market provides other forms of public goods, namely safe, healthy food and environmental education opportunities (learning more about nature\/environment and processes of food production). By providing a subsidy to vendors in the form of low rent, the City is not just supporting local economies and allowing farmers to sell locally (stated objectives of the project), but also providing a space for public interaction, enabling environmental education, creating new connections between rural producers, home-based food preparation businesses and consumers, and finding ways outside of the traditional agri-busisness model to bring food into the city.<\/p>\n

The success of the Ottawa Farmers\u2019 Market, or any other farmers\u2019 market in the City, should therefore not be judged solely by its economic viability, but rather by how it contributes to the overall fabric of the city. Farmers\u2019 markets could be an important tool for many other City departments (public health, environment and recreation) and there should be a way to broaden the discussion about the overall impact of farmers\u2019 markets in Ottawa in terms of how they contribute to the project of city-building.<\/p>\n

The discussion about farmers\u2019 markets within the City of Ottawa is not over with the start of a new market season. Additional reports on the issue of the Ottawa Farmers\u2019 Market are anticipated later this year as is a decision about the plans for the future of Lansdowne park. The outcome of these issues will be instructive for understanding the City\u2019s continued perception of the role of the farmers\u2019 market within its urban boundaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

__________ Last month\u2019s unseasonably warm weather has had me looking forward the 2010 farmers\u2019 market season. While cautious in my own gardening habits \u2013 I did not plant early lettuce, beans, peas, radishes etc\u2026 – I have been patiently waiting for the arrival of fresh spring vegetables after a winter\u2019s worth of rather tired greens,Continue reading “Focus on food hurting City’s vision for farmers’ markets”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7061,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[399,5303,341],"tags":[872,340,1417,1437,2066,2068,2069,1428,2071,1718,2065,2070,2067,2073,394,903,2074,398,2075,2072,2076,757,1980,570],"class_list":["post-3017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-green-space","category-urban-design","tag-city-council","tag-environment","tag-farmer","tag-food-2","tag-food-hurting","tag-food-producer","tag-food-producers","tag-food-production","tag-food-products","tag-food-vendors","tag-healthy-food","tag-home-based-food-preparation-businesses","tag-home-based-food-processors","tag-important-tool","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-valley","tag-piggy-market-stall","tag-planning","tag-rural-affairs-committee","tag-subsidized-site","tag-the-citizen","tag-the-glebe","tag-the-ottawa-citizen","tag-wellington"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFocus on food hurting City's vision for farmers' markets - Spacing Ottawa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Focus on food hurting City's vision for farmers' markets - Spacing Ottawa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"__________ Last month\u2019s unseasonably warm weather has had me looking forward the 2010 farmers\u2019 market season. While cautious in my own gardening habits \u2013 I did not plant early lettuce, beans, peas, radishes etc\u2026 – I have been patiently waiting for the arrival of fresh spring vegetables after a winter\u2019s worth of rather tired greens,Continue reading "Focus on food hurting City’s vision for farmers’ markets"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Ottawa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-09T15:46:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T14:19:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4097\/4777542736_f7c587b3ef_b.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Sinclair\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Sinclair\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/\",\"name\":\"Focus on food hurting City's vision for farmers' markets - Spacing Ottawa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4097\/4777542736_f7c587b3ef_b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-09T15:46:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T14:19:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/e13aef1876855747645db74a1129eb75\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4097\/4777542736_f7c587b3ef_b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4097\/4777542736_f7c587b3ef_b.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Focus on food hurting City’s vision for farmers’ markets\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Ottawa\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Ottawa Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/e13aef1876855747645db74a1129eb75\",\"name\":\"Emily Sinclair\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20f90405156914f50f4820d31d088539?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20f90405156914f50f4820d31d088539?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily Sinclair\"},\"description\":\"Emily Sinclair is an environmental planner working in Ottawa. She is keenly interested in the production and experience of urban spaces, and in particular the myriad relationships among the social, natural and built environments that enliven cities of all shapes and sizes.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/author\/emilysinclair\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Focus on food hurting City's vision for farmers' markets - Spacing Ottawa","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Focus on food hurting City's vision for farmers' markets - Spacing Ottawa","og_description":"__________ Last month\u2019s unseasonably warm weather has had me looking forward the 2010 farmers\u2019 market season. While cautious in my own gardening habits \u2013 I did not plant early lettuce, beans, peas, radishes etc\u2026 – I have been patiently waiting for the arrival of fresh spring vegetables after a winter\u2019s worth of rather tired greens,Continue reading \"Focus on food hurting City’s vision for farmers’ markets\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Ottawa","article_published_time":"2010-07-09T15:46:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T14:19:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4097\/4777542736_f7c587b3ef_b.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Emily Sinclair","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Sinclair","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/","name":"Focus on food hurting City's vision for farmers' markets - Spacing Ottawa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4097\/4777542736_f7c587b3ef_b.jpg","datePublished":"2010-07-09T15:46:51+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T14:19:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/e13aef1876855747645db74a1129eb75"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4097\/4777542736_f7c587b3ef_b.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4097\/4777542736_f7c587b3ef_b.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/07\/09\/focus-on-food-hurting-citys-vision-for-farmers-markets\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Focus on food hurting City’s vision for farmers’ markets"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/","name":"Spacing Ottawa","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Ottawa Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/e13aef1876855747645db74a1129eb75","name":"Emily Sinclair","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20f90405156914f50f4820d31d088539?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20f90405156914f50f4820d31d088539?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Emily Sinclair"},"description":"Emily Sinclair is an environmental planner working in Ottawa. She is keenly interested in the production and experience of urban spaces, and in particular the myriad relationships among the social, natural and built environments that enliven cities of all shapes and sizes.","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/author\/emilysinclair\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7061"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3017"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9916,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017\/revisions\/9916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}