Weekly Objectives and Achievements:
For the weekly objectives, we are carrying on the same as those outlined previously, which are to meet once a week to discuss the progress of the project and to talk about other issues or concerns that may have arisen during this time. We divided our group into three subgroups to visit three different Farmers Markets, and two of these subgroups have already visited and collected data. The last group will be going to Trout Lake on October 24th to finish our data collection for this project.
Adding to last week’s achievements, we attained new information this week that would help us achieve the goal of our project successfully. The second visit was to the West End Farmers Market and three nearby grocers, Independent, Choices, and West Valley Market. From these four locations we collected prices of the same 25 produce items that the first subgroup took data collection on. With the detailed descriptions and processes explained by two members who did their data collection first, we aimed to match the produces as close as possible. During our visit to the markets, we were able to communicate with the people in the community and listen to their opinions on shopping for produce. One interesting responses we received was how they preferred the produce from the Farmers Market because of its better taste. We had previously thought that people shop at Farmers Markets mostly for the aesthetic appeal of being organic, local, and fresh, so we have been proven wrong once again. Although our data collection is not complete, having obtained a second set of data allows us to not only start comparing the price differences between the Farmers markets and other grocers, but also the cost discrepancies between the Kitsilano and West End Farmers Market communities.
Moment of Significance and Issues:
There were several significant moments that arose during the course of the project. One of these moments was when we encountered a few community members at the Farmers Market who had opposing view on our original assumption that many people perceive shopping at Farmers Markets as an elitist movement. These shoppers found some produce items rather more affordable at Farmers Markets when compared to other grocers nearby. This incident allowed us to realize the importance of being objective to the topic while carrying out the project. Being objective means not relying on our assumptions too much and being open to different perceptions that we gain from various individuals we meet in the communities.
Through direct communication with the community members, we realized that many have various opinions about shopping at Farmers Markets. Considering these numerous differing views, our examination of consumerism at Farmers Markets, being based solely on cost, can be quite limiting in terms of drawing holistic conclusion. Also, because everyone’s situation is different, such as their economic status and interests, our aim to provide a price comparison guide may not be applicable to some individuals. Having said that, we were able to relate our project to Dan Barber’s concern that replicating Eduardo Sousa’s procedure in New York City is not fully applicable due to different situations of the two chefs. Dan Barber realizes that Eduardo Sousa’s approach to feeding the geese ensuring they don’t feel domesticated is more costly than profitable, especially with the conditions of New York. In addition to economic problems, he is also unsure whether it is crueler to leave the geese dying in the cold or gavage. Learning from Dan Barber’s story, we need to ask ourselves whether simplifying the barriers that prevent more people from shopping at Farmers Markets an appropriate approach or not. If each community member requires different information to make better-informed food choices, is our fixed quantitative study of the cost comparison appropriate to bring about positive change in Vancouver’s food system? This is a critical question that we must consider. Another concern is related to our selection the three nearby grocers. One of the consumers at Choices Market said she does not often shop there, instead she usually goes to Safeway. This made us think about whether the three grocers we chose are representative of the food prices in the community. This becomes an issue because our choice of grocers may have different prices from Safeway or other excluded grocers. However, the limitation of our time frame is a factor that would otherwise allow us to collect more data for a more comprehensive analysis. Despite our recognition of the variety of influences, we are going to continue focusing on the cost aspect because we are taking a reductionist approach in our study. Many studies take a reductionist approach to break down a topic into smaller components to study each part. We believe that our cost analysis will be one crucial part in consumerism regarding Vancouver’s Farmers Markets, but we will also keep in mind the various possible factors and be careful not to draw holistic conclusion in view of our economic study.
Upcoming Objectives and Strategies:
We are approaching the end of our data collection with our planned visit to the Trout Lake Farmers market in East Vancouver on October 24th. Several issues have come to light during the first two visits to the other Farmers Markets, and we hope to take the experience as a valuable learning to improve our third data collection. To achieve efficient data collection, two members assigned to the Trout Lake Farmers Market are planning to discuss various procedures prior to the visit and work cooperatively during the trip. In addition, all of the members will be informed of the data on the same weekend to ensure everyone is on the same page. Our goal from this last trip is to further examine the economic factors behind the Vancouver community members’ purchase decisions. Trout Lake (East Vancouver) has an average income of 34,385 (Statistics Canada, 2011) putting the community in the lowest economic standing among the three areas we are collecting data from. At the end of this week’s visit, we would have completed our data collection that will allow us to start organizing and interpreting all the information we have recorded to date by making tables and summarizing the opinions we received by consumers we encountered. Furthermore, we aim to make an analysis to see whether the produce at Vancouver’s Farmers Markets are actually more expensive than those at other grocers in the area. One of our other objectives is to see if our data sets reflect the socioeconomic status of the three different communities, Kitsilano, Trout Lake, and West End. Lastly, we will continue with our weekly group meetings and online discussions to bring the whole project together and start finalizing our report.
Reference:
Statistics Canada (2011). NHS Profile, Vancouver East, British Columbia, 2011. Retrieved
from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca