Beginnings

Group interest:

Our group interests include the importance of consuming healthy nutritious foods and understanding the barriers associated in accessing these types of foods.

Goal for the project:

Our goal is to highlight the cost discrepancy between fruits and vegetables sold by local farmers at the city’s farmers markets and the fruits and vegetables sold at different grocery stores within the area. In addition, we plan to compare such cost discrepancies in three different communities with varying socioeconomic standards. By doing so, we would like to examine the accessibility of local produce to people in comparison to the different types of grocery stores in the area.

Reason for choosing the project:

Many people believe shopping for produce at the farmers market is an elitist movement and is only affordable for the rich. For this reason, many low-income families who are on a tight budget seek large industrial grocery stores or small independent ethnic shops for their produce purchases. We chose this project to address these perceptions by collecting actual data on costs of the farmers market produce. We believe that shopping at farmers market is not only a way to support local farmers but also be local and environmentally sustainable. Therefore, we consider this project as a step towards achieving positive social change in which communities’ food systems become more local and sustainable.

What we want to gain from LFS 350:

By taking the LFS 350 course, we hope to gain real life experiences in the reality of the current local food system, the benefits and challenges it possesses, and understanding what our future may look like if we choose to engage in supporting Vancouver’s, or any, food system. Through participating in the community project, we look forward to gaining various practical skills including communication skills, leadership skills (SCM), application of theoretical knowledge in real-world settings and formation of transdisciplinary approaches to issues.

Project objective:

Our project objective is to take a cost analysis of three different farmers markets in Vancouver, Kitsilano, West-End and Trout Lake. Each farmers market produce price will be compared to the price of products at one of three different types of grocery, superstore, small independent grocery store or ethnic store, within a one kilometer radius that sells the same type of produce. From this data collection, we hope to show our finding not only to our partner organization (Vancouver Farmer’s Market) but also the general public, so they can make an educated decision about where to buy their produce based on cost. Also, we wish to demystify the beliefs in the high cost for supporting local farmers by purchasing the fresh, nutritious and mostly organic produce they bring for sale at the farmers markets in Vancouver.

Process of the project to date:

Our first impressions of process to date align very closely to those of Ernesto Sirolli and the guiding principles of asset-based community development. The process of the project started with finding out that each group member is different, which not only allows us to work efficiently by allowing each group member to contribute in their areas of strength but also allows for a variety of opinions when discussing a certain topic or subject. This means being respectful of each other and the people we will be working with along the way because relationships build community and the citizens of the community are the experts. If we just remember to use our listening skills and cooperate effectively, there is no reason we will not be successful.

Our project follows the principles of asset-based community development in the sense that we are working with one of Vancouver’s already existing assets,10 farmers markets, to contribute to bringing about positive social change. We referenced the Vancouver Food Strategy pamphlet issued by the City of Vancouver to find out about their goals for addressing Vancouver’s food challenges. This allowed us to choose our project based on the needs of Vancouver’s communities. With this mission in mind, we cannot be selfish and think about what is best for our group or best for us individually, but be aware that this project is bigger than ourselves and that our goal is to serve the greater community of Vancouver.

We cannot wait to share our journey with you, until next time!

Steph, Soohyun, Mel, Marina, Su, Sumire