Weekly Objectives and Achievements:

Our group’s weekly objectives are to meet at least once a week to discuss all online communication between group members, to update each other about our individual and group progress on the project and assignments, and to discuss our plans and help each other as we move forward. We hope that using this method of collaboration will incentivize group members to remain connected to the group’s activities throughout the duration of our project.

We have now reached session six of the course and we are glad to report that we have attained numerous achievements. Our group has outlined a time frame that we hope will allow us to be successful in all things we wish to do as a group and for the project. This past long-weekend, two of our group members visited Kitsilano Farmers Market on Sunday October 11th along with three other grocers in the area, Whole Foods Market, Apple Farm Market and Persia Foods. These grocers were all located within a 10-15 minutes of walking distance from each other and from the Farmers Market. During this time, we took a data collection on the prices of 26 produce items at each location. We also asked consumers at the grocers about their experience when shopping for produce, reasons behind their choices to shop at certain grocers, and their knowledge about Vancouver’s Farmers Markets. This first visit to a Farmers Market has allowed the two group members to provide feedback about their experience during the data collection and to advise the team as we move forward with our project.

Moment of significance, tensions and opportunities:

One of the greatest moments of significance that occurred to date in this course came when talking to Vancouver community members about their motives behind where they buy their produce. Prior to our first data collection at Kitsilano Farmers Market and three surrounding grocers, we thought price was the greatest barrier to accessing Farmers Markets. Although cost was still a factor, it was not the chief complaint of the Kitsilano community members we talked to. Many people highlighted other factors such as convenience, time requirement, variety, crowds, and lack of knowledge about the Farmers Markets existence. We were aware that these various factors exist and that the driving forces behind people’s decisions are complex but we realized that we were underestimating those factors’ contribution to their decisions. This made us question the significance of our cost analysis of the Farmers Markets to make them more accessible to any and all Vancouver Community members.

This awakening indicates that our group has simplified the barriers that prevent people from shopping at the Farmers Markets. We have all taken LFS 250 and now LFS 350, which are courses that discuss local food systems. Our perception of such systems consist of local, organic, healthy and fresh foods as a requirement but, in reality, this utopian Food System vision is not shared by all Vancouver community members. This begs the question of how important local food is and why we should care. One possible answer is provided by Jensi’s Fish Bank Story, which can be related to Vancouver’s Farmers Markets. Just like many people romanticized the beauty of coral reefs and the diverse aquatic life of the Bali Islands, many people fantasize the freshness and taste of local organic produce that is bought from their friend Jim at the Farmers Market. But under the surface, it’s a completely different story. In Jensi’s story, fish populations are disappearing, variety of marine life is decreasing, coral is dying, and fishermen are struggling to make a living. Here, local farmers are struggling to make a living, small farms are disappearing, big retailers are taking over, and as a result, local foods are becoming increasingly scarce. But has anybody quantified how important Farmers Markets are to the health of Vancouver’s local ecosystem? That maybe the Farmers Market story is beyond the food on our plate, and that we need to consider the integrity of our land, the beauty of nature, and the lives of those who provide us with sustenance?

Recognizing these numerous tensions provides an opportunity to fully grasp and uncover the meaning of Vancouver’s Farmers Markets. Although our project’s focus will remain on the cost associated with shopping at the Farmers Market, we hope to also address other possible barriers to provide a more inclusive reality of the situation. To do so, we need to ask ourselves if we care about our community, the health of the people, the quality of the available foods, the air we breathe and the space we occupy. Because if we do, we believe small local farms are at the top of the list, and they need our support, which can be demonstrated by shopping at the Farmers Markets. Moving forward, we will try to consider all barriers vocalized by those we meet during our project to fully appreciate the reality of the situation. And with this, we hope to provide a more comprehensive report to aid our partner, Vancouver Farmers Markets, and the Vancouver community in their desire to access the Farmers Markets.

Upcoming objectives and strategies:

Our group has numerous upcoming objectives that will enable us to achieve our project’s goals. Data collection at the West-End and Trout Lake Farmers Market communities have yet to be done, thus making it difficult to analyze and draw conclusions on our data at this time. We recognize that these two Farmers Markets are ending their seasons soon, and hence we are planning to visit them within the next two weeks to ensure we can collect the rest of our data. With the tips and strategies shared by the two groups members who already did some data collection, we hope future work will be met with minimal challenges. One of our remaining goals from collecting produce prices at the other two communities is to delve more into the economic aspect of people’s decisions. Among the three communities, Kitsilano has the highest average income, which might be a reason why cost was not the biggest barrier to the shoppers we talked to in the area. After completing our data collection, we will be able to tell more clearly whether cost plays a significant role in limiting people’s accessibility to Farmers Markets. Then, with our current information on the Kitsilano Farmers Market and three surrounding grocers, we hope to build a framework to determine the best way of presenting our data to the Vancouver community and our project partner. Lastly, we plan to begin brainstorming for our final project report and presentation. To achieve these objectives, we will continue our weekly group meetings and online discussions to ensure that every group member is keeping up with our project’s progression.