Disappointment at the attitude of local authorities towards the development of farmers' markets was expressed by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív yesterday at a conference held to consider their future.
He told the All-Ireland farmers' markets conference in Athlone there was a need for local authorities and others to be proactive in relation to the markets which in turn would have to draw up protocols governing their trading.
Emphasising that farmers' markets are for selling local fresh produce, the Minister said: "I have no objection to food coming 30 or 40 miles to a farmers' market but coming 3,000 miles is stretching a point, so we have to lay down protocols that clearly identify the parameters involved in organising the markets."
He told the 300 people attending the conference he had been asked to open one such market in the west of Ireland at which the first thing he saw being offered for sale were oranges, which could not have been produced locally.
He said he guessed ratepaying shopkeepers might oppose the markets, fearing that products could be sold at such venues with unfair advantage. But if protocols were put in place, traders and local authorities should welcome them, he said. Local authorities should invest in taps and other facilities for the markets, which presented opportunities for shopkeepers and producers, he added.
Darina Allen, who founded the first modern farmers' markets in Cork, said there were thorny issues to be tackled, especially the necessity for markets to be run by producers, not food-sellers.
She said she received continuous complaints from people who had gone to markets and did not find what they had expected. In some there were no farmers to be seen, and this had to be addressed, she said.
"Some private markets, particularly in Dublin, are charging so much for a stall that genuine artisan producers cannot afford to attend. This causes disappointment and confusion to those who go along to such markets."
She said each farmers' market must have a controller, a code of practice and a protocol, and must be strictly monitored "so that if someone is buying cakes and selling them out as home-made they are immediately asked to leave the market".
She said the most successful of the 126 farmers' markets operating across the State were those run independently by a local committee despite the inconsistent treatment of them by local authorities.
For instance, signage for the market in Carrick-on-Shannon was funded while in Ennis the organisers were fined for putting up signs, she told the conference, chaired by John Bowman and organised by Accel, the Skillnets organisation.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Trevor Sargent, who travelled by train to the event, said he, too, was disappointed at the inconsistency in local authorities' attitudes to farmers' markets, which he wanted to see opening in every town. He called for changes to the administration of the Casual Traders' Act, saying regulation needed to be at a minimum in order not to obstruct artisan producers from selling their food.
He said organic producers could provide certification for their food but this was being threatened by lack of enforcement. There had been only one prosecution for selling conventional food as organic and, from what he was hearing, this was only the tip of the iceberg as enforcement was "woefully inadequate".
He said his role would be to remove the obstacles to the markets and to support all farmers to sell directly to the public.
William Ruiter, chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association's fruit and vegetable committee, said the industry was being wiped out by the systems put in place by the big chain stores.