Columbian Reports for the City, not the Citizens of Vancouver

it's always interesting to see how the columbian newspaper helps to promote the deception abound in the city of vancouver, wa. on the cover of the clark county section today, one of the the headlines read, "farmers market nears the end of its year with sales up 44-percent"

the idea i imagine is to try to establish themselves as a worthy provider of locally grown and handmade products to the community of vancouver; one that makes money, as opposed to one that mismanaged itself into a financial pitfall.

all the while touting the success and growth of local farmers at the market.

this is the second of 2 articles written directly to promote the idea that your vfm is bubbling with local agriculture from vancouver and clark county.

the first here: Flourishing Market Matures

and the second linkable through this blog title above

if you happen to ask the employee who has not been fully briefed on the "we grow all are produce locally in Yakima" story and he/she slips and tells you how it's mostly from California, you might believe my hype.

this happened to me at one vendors booth while asking about some produce a month ago. His employer overheard and stepped in quickly to correct him and assured me that everything was local... just a little to late

because of this one experience, this one vendor, i am inclined to wonder how much is really "local" and what exactly does "local" mean?

but if you don't have the fortune of catching one of them in a lie and are interested in knowing more on the matter than what i have to say, keep posted as i interview and report the real story on the local farmers in our city and county.

the current market master of vfm is quoted as saying, "we've had more local farmers and a lot more shoppers looking for local produce than in years past", this taken from the article today.

when in actuality the farmers market is struggling to figure out why it has lost so many local farmers in the past 3 years, according to several board members interviewed recently on the matter.

this market and this city seem to have a bad habit of not following or enforcing rules, the very reason why most people get tired of trying to play by them.

you might ask yourself next time you are shopping the vfm, is this produce even available this time of year in hermiston or kennewick?

i personally want to see a farmers market full of local farmers, not large producers importing and misrepresenting local produce; spread out across multiple booths scattered about the market, giving the consumer the impression that they are 3 separate vendors, when in fact they are one large producer split up into many spots...

i applaud the local vendors who are still available at this market and continue to tolerate this behavior; i will continue to shop your products. For those that have chosen to go to markets that represent the core values of local farming and enforce rules to ensure the public is getting access to the safest, local products, i will work to make our community more accessible to it's own local food supply.

in order to find out the truth for myself and anyone else in the City of Vancouver interested in knowing about the local farmers of clark county; those who left, why and where you can find them now; i will be reporting for you (or myself) in future posts.

i will also feature local farmers currently selling at the market so you can shop as local as you (the community and consumer) choose; i believe an informed consumer is the best kind

i will dispel any myths the vancouver farmers market would have you believe, unlike the columbian, i will ask questions beyond the talking heads and get to the truth.