• Welcome
  

St. NORBERT MARKET

• Benefits 1
  

• Benefits 2
  

• Benefits 3
  

• Ten Reasons
  

• References
  

Benefits of Farmers Markets: Promotes Urban Agriculture :

According to the International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC)Cities Feeding People Program Initiative, urban agriculture is defined as

...a practice located within or on the fringe of a town, a city or a metropolis, which uses human and material resources to grow, process, and distribute a diversity of food and non-food products (IRDC, Cities Feeding People).

The products sold at the St Norbert Farmers Market thus qualify as urban agriculture, as many of the products come from the fringe of, or within, Winnipeg. An attractive feature about selling urban agricultural products at a farmers market is that the food is fresher than at a supermarket. The consumers have an understanding that the produce was harvested recently, was from a familiar location, and was not shipped long distances in a cargo truck. Reinforcing this point, a 1994 study found that the leading reason why consumers patronize markets is for freshness (Thompson 1994 in Fairholm 1998) in addition to a demand for safer and more nutritious food (Fairholm 1998).

When consumers visit farmer’s markets, they quickly learn about where their food comes from by talking to the producers. This creates an educational experience for the consumer, as they have now made a connection between where their food comes from, how it was produced, and who produced it, and how it gets to them (Fairholm 1998). They become familiar with what types of produce come from the local area, and begin to understand what kinds of foods are native to this part of Manitoba.

In addition to the benefits for the consumers, this type of agriculture is also more environmentally sustainable, for a variety of reasons. First, the shipping distances are much smaller, thus less energy is used transporting the produce. Second, much of the agriculture comes from family farms. As such, the agricultural practices are less intense, and have smaller impact on soil quality in terms of nutrients and erosion.