As a keen Grow It Yourselfer, I’ve had a long term interest in trends involving food – not just the eating of it, but how it’s grown, how it’s marketed and what role it plays in local cultures and communities. As a consequence I’ve often wondered why Toowoomba hasn’t been able to sustain a farmers’ market, despite a couple of attempts. Is it because of a lack of public interest? Are growers not enthusiastic? Have local authorities stymied attempts to get something happening?
Current efforts to get a Darling Downs Farmers’ Market off the ground are a case in point. The process appears to have been frustratingly slow, and council planning fees now look set to stop the project dead in its tracks. In my view this would be very unfortunate, because Toowoomba needs a farmers’ market. Let me explain why, starting with some hard truths.
The status quo has become unjustifiable. Industrial agriculture is killing the planet, killing small communities and literally, killing us. According to farming advocate Michael Ableman, the problem with food isn’t genetic engineering, pesticides, or soil loss. He suggests that these are just symptoms of a larger issue. “What we have is a crisis of participation,” says Ableman. “A tiny fraction of the world is attempting to feed the rest of us, so they do crazy things.”
Ableman’s observations make uncommon sense. In Australia, 2006 ABS figures show that less than one percent of the Australian population stated their occupation as “farmer”, and of those that did, the average age was 52 ,with the percentage of farmers under 35 decreasing and those over 65 increasing.
Let’s couch the figures in simple terms: The overwhelming majority of Australians are fattening themselves on food grown using huge inputs of chemicals, diesel and water on land that is gradually becoming less and less fertile but is worked by a tiny population of farmers who are nearing retirement and unlikely to pass the farm onto their children. Throw into the mix issues like global warming and peak oil, and it’s not hard to figure out that the way we feed ourselves has to change. Farming can’t continue on its current path. It has to get more local and diverse, but above all, a far greater percentage of the population needs to get reacquainted with growing food.
A Toowoomba-based farmers’ market offers two major benefits: opportunities for participation and reconnection. There are plenty who are already keen to farm, but the biggest impediments to new farmers are a lack of access to land and capital. A farmers’ market located in a regional centre like Toowoomba would help foster the development of new food growers by supporting agriculture that’s small in scale, localised, and sustainable.
A farmers’ market would also help people reconnect with the source of what goes into their mouths. The current situation is abysmal. I was reading an article the other day about Jamie Oliver’s campaign to get American schoolkids eating healthier food. In one of the cities Oliver visited, he found 10-year-olds who had to be taught how to use a knife and fork and couldn’t tell the difference between a potato and a tomato. If you think we’re immune from this kind of disconnection here in Australia, I’d suggest a reality check is in order.
A genuine farmers’ market brings producers and consumers together in an environment that encourages accountability. There’s opportunity for conversation. At a farmers’ market, you can generally talk directly with the person who grew the item you wish to purchase, learning about its origins and special qualities. In the industrial food world this kind of “paddock to plate” interaction is not just unfeasible, but unwelcome.
Participation and reconnection are just two benefits of farmers’ markets. There are plenty of others: the revitalisation of town centres, social interaction between rural and urban communities, enhanced employment opportunities in farming districts, produce that’s fresher and more diverse, and environmental benefits such as reduced transportation and packaging. Throw in the fact that farmers’ markets tend to be chock full of food that tastes superb, and you’ve got a winning concept.
Farmers’ markets are the way of the future. I can see a day coming when individual districts across the Downs will have a small market of their own, but let’s start by supporting the development of one in Toowoomba. I’d urge all those who question the concept on political or procedural grounds to take a big picture view of food production on the Downs. Accept the need for change. Get behind a Darling Downs farmer’s market or get out the way. This is an idea whose time has arrived.
First published in the Toowoomba Chronicle 17th April 2010.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I wholeheartedly support farmer’s markets and can’t wait for one to start in Toowoomba!!
I would also very gladly support a farmers market here in Toowoomba as the current ‘markets’ that we do have leave something to be desired!