I could not agree more, and am heartened to see the congruence of our thoughts about the farmers markets. I have thought for years that the City of Ithaca badly mismanaged the farmers market and missed a great opportunity to locate the market, which has the potential to anchor the downtown, on or near the Commons. There is now plenty of interest to support more than one market in Ithaca, and creating a market in the vicinity of the Commons would be a tremendous boost to the entire retail marketplace in that area. If we can chase money for a visitor's center focused on wineries, why can't we do the same thing for local producers of other foods?
I do wonder about the sustainability of the centralized food distribution that so dominates the current scene. While it may falter ultimately, in the interim the trend continues to favor the likes of Wegmans and Walmart at the expense of the Greenstars and other smaller niche markets. Diversity is a plus. Complexity generally results in greater stability and adaptability. A competition between Wegmans and Walmart as to who can do a better job of sourcing and marketing local and Organic foods would be better for farmers than the current situation. Any farmer would have the sense to realize (I hope!) that they need a contract when dealing with large outlets like this. You don't produce a large volume of anything in agriculture without locking in a market for it. Having more than one option for where to market is a healthy thing. In the longer run, I think food stores will become smaller and more local in their procurement, and farmers markets can help the process along by giving growers more marketing options. Joel At 01:09 PM 10/11/08 -0400, you wrote: >At 09:05 AM 10/11/2008 -0700, George Frantz wrote, in part: > > Why assume the continued dependence on the WalMart/Wegman's centralized > > procurement/distribution system model? > > > >There are a number of cities in Pennsylvania that have since colonial > >times operated publicly-owned central markets where individual stalls are > >leased to small-time local producers of food and and fiber. ....rest > >deleted...... > >Dear George and Colleages--This a great idea. In fact, once upon a time, >when I first came to Ithaca the old Rothchild's Building had just been torn >down and what was to become the Center Ithaca Building was a vacant lot >covered with gravel. And what was to become the Ithaca Farmers' Market was >held in the vacant lot. It had a festive atmosphere and attacted all sorts >of folks to then new Commons that might not have wandered over there >otherwise. Instead of building dozens of stalls for small farmers and >crafts/cottage industry practitioners and the continence of what could have >become a great tradition an architectural monstrosity was constructed >instead that filled in what was a great open air space. And now the >Farmers' Market is way far away from the downtown business district, >requires a car to get to for many of us and draws business away from the >downtown instead of helping to building it up. So we know the meaning of >"retrograde" here in Ithaca. Tom > >****************************************** >Tom Shelley >118 E. Court St. >Ithaca, NY 14850 >607 342-0864 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Compost Educator and Sustainability Scion* > >What Does Zero Waste Mean? >"If it cant be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, >resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, >or removed from production." >Berkeley Zero Waste Resolution >See http://www.cityofberkeley.info/council8/newsletter.pdf > >*noun: a shoot or bud of a plant, esp. one for planting or grafting >_______________________________________________ >For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, >please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > >RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: >[email protected] >http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins >free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
