Legislation to ward off so called peddler produce retailers will be introduced next week to certify the state’s estimated 75 farmers markets. Peddlers are vendors selling produce not grown locally or by the person selling it. Markets calling themselves a farmers markets could only do so if they apply, and pay, for certification through the state Department of Agriculture under a proposal to be introduced by Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett, on Monday, the last day to submit legislation.
“We’re trying to set up some kind of situation where the public can trust that a farmers market is selling stuff that is locally grown and produced,” he said in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon.
Under the proposed legislation, to get and maintain certification, a market operator must ensure products being sold come from the vendor. The produce also must be farmed within 150 miles of the market. An itemized list of produce to be sold must be given to the farmers market operators under the proposal.
Jeffress said Wednesday that he hoped the legislation will address the problem that some feel is created by producer brokers.
Gina Jarrett, a spokesman for the Paragould Main Street program, said Wednesday that she decided in 2010 to stop supporting its farmers market because of outside peddlers were “forcing out the smaller folks.”
She also blamed the produce brokers for usurping “Women and Infant Children” or WIC, coupons, which are intended to support local agricultural producers, she said.
But at the River Market, such peddlers are welcomed.
The River Market features vendors that sell produce not grown in the state, but that doesn’t mean the River Market is anything less than a farmers market, said Jim Rice, chief operating officer of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, which oversees the River Market, including its farmers market.
“Not all fresh produce grown in the region is available over the entire run of the market,” he said, adding that farmers work out growing arrangements among themselves to offer as wide a variety of products as possible.
Jody Hardin, president of the Arkansas Farmers Market Association and the Certified Arkansas Farmers Market in North Little Rock, was one of several Arkansas producers who in 2008 had a falling out with River Market officials over the peddler issue.
That same year, he helped start the Argenta Farmers Market in North Little Rock. The Argenta market is a “Certified Arkansas Farmers Market,” which means that each vendor’s farm is inspected to ensure he sells what he grows. The market also sought limited operating hours so vendors will not undercut on prices before or after normal hours.
Certified markets exist in North Little Rock, west Little Rock, Searcy and Mountain View, Hardin said.
If the legislation becomes law, Hardin said, any collected money would go toward building a cohesive, statewide farmers market organization. The cost of the annual certification has not been determined.
“Arkansas is losing out on a huge opportunity [to receive grant money] because we’re not organized,” Hardin said.
The move to submit the “certification bill” comes in the wake of last Friday’s annual Farmers Market Association meeting. Members gathered at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock to discuss the proposal, as well as conduct other business.
Jim McGuire, manager of the Springdale Farmers Market, said the proposal still needed work since a difference of opinion continued to exist among the association’s membership.
“My market has no problems with the certification requirements,” he said. But, the way the bill is drafted, you’re either certified or not, and if not you can’t call yourself a farmers market, McGuire said.
McGuire, a former Farmers Market Association representative, said he understands wanting to take peddlers out of the picture, but sees the certification requirement as unnecessary in accomplishing that goal.
“Hopefully there can be another category” of farmers market, he said.
Business, Pages 27 on 03/03/2011