The Department of Agriculture are holding a policy review, subsequent to the (partial) change of government. The IFMTA were invited to make a submission to this process. The document is available to read here or can by downloaded by clicking here.

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Variety, vibrancy and conviviality are the crucial ingredients for a successful market. Consumers like choice and they like a fun atmosphere. They get bored buying the same old thing in the same old shop day after day. The phenomenal proliferation of farmers’ markets throughout the country has partly been a response to this demand.
Consumers go to markets because they want to buy foods that aren’t so available in the supermarkets i.e. fruit and tomatoes that are picked when they're ripe and not weeks early, peas in the pod, purple sprouting broccoli, tasty apples in season, cakes made with butter, jams made with real fruit, unusual sausages, farmhouse cheeses without packaging, etc. Taste is paramount and customers are prepared to pay extra for it. So the clever stallholder will make sure that the foods for sale are fresh and full of flavour. Fruit and vegetables are selected that are best suited to local climate and soils, allowing taste and nutrition to take precedence over extended shelf life and the whims of global markets. The sauces and pizzas will be made from the best ingredients and so on.
People go to markets because they want to buy food directly from the person who has grown or made it. They want to feel assured of where their food has come from and how it has been produced. Many are worried about food miles, particularly with all the hype about global warming and so they want to buy foods that come from close to home. They know that buying locally helps the local economy and so they will go out of their way to shop regularly in a market - rain, hail or snow. Farmers need to grasp this golden opportunity because they have the potential to produce exactly what the customer really wants.
Customers are attracted to markets by their atmosphere, camaraderie and friendliness. They can be wonderful places to meet other people and it is always comforting to be known by the stallholder.

To date farmers markets have had wonderful support from Bord Bia and the Dept of Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Now it is time for these bodies to really assess why they want to back these markets into the future.
Will they support and promote markets in order to
• revive rural communities?
• keep farmers on the land and give them a viable living?
• bring life back into the town centres?
• provide tourist attractions?
• use markets as incubators to encourage more entrepreneurial people to produce innovative food products?
• utilise markets as the ‘shop window’ for all that is best about Irish food?
• provide competition for supermarkets as recommended by the Competition Authority Report on Casual Trading (22/08/’02)?
• set up structures and supply lines in preparation for a future after peak oil when people will be forced to shop locally as transport and consequently imports, will be much more expensive?
Farmers’ markets have the potential to achieve all the above but only if the market functions properly with plenty of variety, colour, diversity and the right ambience to attract customers back each week. It is very important that food markets are nurtured and looked after. The local people need to be welcomed and encouraged to buy at them. Different markets attract different sorts of people, as do different stalls. The most successful markets have a wide range of foods and prices to attract all income levels. Galway is probably the best example.

Much talk is being given to the idea of certifying certain farmers markets in order to control the standard of produce for sale. In England and the USA certification systems have been brought in to certify farmers’ markets that only have local producers selling at them. However, it must be remembered that
• Parts of the USA such as California have the most wonderful growing conditions for fruit and vegetables and consequently an abundance of producers and the spin off products of wines, pickles, jams and preserves.
• England has a very large urban population so it is easy to locate an area with a population base of over 20,000 well-off residents which is the critical number required for an effective high quality market.
• According to the English FARMA producer profiles, many of the farmers selling at these markets are very big producers averaging over 300 acres who are able to use the markets to sell the surplus from their sales to shops which helps their cash flow.
• Many of the English certified markets take place only once a month.
• In the USA many of the markets close down for the winter months.

Ireland is very different;
• Virtually all the 126 markets take place once a week throughout the year with possibly a couple of weeks off after Christmas.
• With the exception of Dublin and the other major cities most farmers’ markets take place in small rural towns with population bases of below 7000 which is nowhere near the recommended base of 20,000 well-off people.
• Because there are less customers in these rural towns each stallholder needs to carry a bigger diversity of produce in smaller amounts. The bigger, more specialist producers often find it not worth their while going to these small markets and prefer to sell their produce through another ‘middleman’ stall.
• There is a serious lack of fruit producers which isn’t helped by the inclement weather.
• Presently there is a shortage of vegetable growers, particularly organic ones.
• It is very difficult to produce vegetables in the ‘hungry gap’ months of May and June. Most organic growers who initially imported vegetables and fruit to fill this gap, now supplement their own produce with imports the whole time. This balances out their income over the 12 months making their businesses more viable and often enabling them to employ full-time staff.
• Most cheese makers don’t produce enough variety of cheeses or have the time to attend markets and so they find it easier to sell their products through a cheesemonger who can make a living by selling at 5 or 6 markets a week.
• Customers in remote towns are only too delighted to get the chance to buy imported olives, cheeses and organic fruit at the market which saves them a very long trip into their nearest city. It must be noted that these types of stalls draw a lot of purchasers to the market.
• Many markets are run by UDCs under the Casual Trading Act 1995 and so include all types of stalls e.g. Macroom. A few markets still have Market Rights which gives the right for anyone to sell there on a particular days e.g. Bantry and Skibbereen.

In Dublin and a few of the other major cities it may be possible to bring in a certification scheme for farmers’ markets that have local producer stalls only, provided there are enough producers! This would help to distinguish them from the privately run markets that tend to have very few producers with the majority of stalls belonging to traders. These private markets are generally run for profit only and don’t have the ethos of fostering entrepreneurial producers. If Farmleigh market continues it could easily be certified especially as it only take place at certain times of the year.
In the rest of the country and particularly the small rural towns this strict certification system could prove detrimental for the viability of the markets. Funding for rural markets should not be tied to them being producer only. Without an abundant diversity of products throughout the year they will fail to attract enough customers and consequently struggle to survive. In order to maintain consumer confidence each stallholder should be required to put a Country of Origin label on all their imported products with harsh penalties for not doing so. In a rural town it doesn’t take long the word to get out about a ‘rogue trader’ who labels his products as ‘homemade’ or ‘organic’ when they clearly aren’t.

Organisers of markets must do all they can to encourage more producers. They need to ensure that there is a variety of sized units/pitches available. The smallest producers must have the ability to start up and operate in a fostering environment without incurring huge costs. This guarantees consumers ongoing competition with better value and a wider variety of foods.
Another significant shortfall in many markets is the lack of provision for seasonal producers. Seasonality offers great value to consumers as large quantities of vegetables, fruit, fish, etc all become available simultaneously. Seasonality allows farmers to supplement their incomes at certain times of the year. Pickers of seaweed and shellfish provide cultural gems and services that no other retails outlets offer. Seasonal products also add vibrancy and variety to markets throughout the year thereby keeping the customer interested.
Food production today nearly always takes place away from the “prying eyes” of the public. Markets have the potential to have the actual production of the foods taking place in front of the customer. This gives consumers huge confidence in that they can see, hear and smell their food being prepared. For this to be possible adequate power, chilling, ventilation, water and drainage must be available. Planning could be done around hubs thereby saving space and costs.

The best future for markets is to have them run by the Local Authorities in the traditional marketplaces in the town centres. This will provide much needed stability. In towns where the UDC runs the market under the Casual Trading Act 1995 some adaptations are needed to better accommodate farmers’ markets. Care needs to be taken in allocating long-term licences to only a limited number of traders. Markets lose their vibrancy and customers soon get bored with the same old stalls every week. The problem is accentuated if licensed stallholders don’t turn up and their spaces are left vacant. Empty spaces kill off a market quicker than any other influence and so there must be a mechanism for dismissing stallholders who don’t attend regularly.
On the other hand there needs to be flexibility to allow new stalls and seasonal producers to come and go thereby giving extra choice to the consumer. The more stalls at a market the more customers will come to buy. A committee representing the stallholders can liaise with the UDC to oversee the running of the market and the selection of new stallholders with preference being given to those with different foods to any of the existing stalls, producers and locals. A good example of this type of arrangement is Cornmarket St market in Cork.

There is a definite need for an intelligent application of the regulatory guidelines by inspectors. It is unfair for hygiene regulators to insist on QUID labelling on jars when the jam maker is standing right there! It is plainly ridiculous for fire regulators in some areas to insist that the umbrellas are fire-resistant - they’ll be asking for exit doors next!

It is worth remembering that any barrier to selling foods at a market, whether it is lack of space at the marketplace, extortionate rents, more bureaucracy or the high cost of complying with regulations is a barrier to competition and consequently a barrier to consumer choice.