Photo courtesy Rural Delivery

The Cape Breton Farmers Market has been in operation for 30 years and recently underwent an expansion and relocation in order to accommodate the year round customers.  It has grown over the years and is reaching upwards of 1500 visitors on a Saturday of peak season.

In addition to supporting activities and events like the Select Nova Scotia Incredible Picnic, the Cape Breton Farmers Market and its board of volunteers have decided to get kids involved through 2 successful projects; Green Thumb Kids and the School Pumpkin Festival. Last year, Green Thumb Kids brought over 30 children to the market with their parents to register and pick up heritage romano bean seeds and tomato plants. The children left with full instructions, contact information and access to an online chat room to go home and grow their own produce. When it came time for harvest, many of these kids turned entrepreneurs brought their produce to sell at the market. This successful project led to the idea of a school pumpkin festival in a school in Sydney. The Farm Market participated by providing information and activities to help school children understand where their food comes from, the role of farm markets, and the importance of buying local. This nomination was submitted by the Cape Breton / Richmond Federation of Agriculture through the belief that this market has increased the profile of the agricultural industry in their region.

Honourable Mentions (in no particular order)

The Antigonish Farmers Market (Veronica DeYoung)

After eleven years, the Antigonish Farmer’s Market has grown from a handful of venders to 45 members and 15 casual vendors. The market is governed by a volunteer board of directors and believes in providing a low risk venue for local farmers to promote products and give exposure to their business. The market is open every Saturday, May-December with as many as 800-1000 customers passing through.

Other activities in the Market include the “good food boxes” which are filled with fresh locally grown products and provided to 40 needy customers every other week. The market also provides a free “community” table for non-profit groups for education or fund raising effort.  There is a sitting area/meeting place complete with coffee, a weekly featured ‘in-season’ recipe in the local paper and also a supervised play/craft area for children to use while parents make the rounds through the market.

Nominated by the Antigonish Guysborough Federation of Agriculture, they see the market as a long term success story, and a wonderful way of establishing and introducing any new farm business in the Industry and it is well supported by the community.

Queens County Farmers Market is open every second week during the summer months and provides a great venue for small scale producers and consumers to develop a relationship and put a face to the farmer that is producing the food. The development of this local food system is important to the economics of the rural area and has given a venue for farmers to receive a fair price for the goods they are producing. The Queens County Farmers Market, was a sponsor of the Queens County Fair and entered a float into their parade further promoting the Industry and buying local. The Farm Market is also a member of the North Queens Board of Trade and the Visitors Information Centre. The nomination put forth by the Lunenburg Queens Federation of Agriculture recognizes this market as an effective development of a local food system from producer to consumer.

The Mabou Farmers Market, established in 2007, is based in a very small community where producers were encouraged to advertise and sell their produce to local rural residents. In its second year and continued success, it became evident that “local food” is not just for promotion in urban markets, but an issue of great importance to the renewal of rural economies. Consumers from the area, both year round and during the larger seasonal /tourist times use the market not only as a great source for high quality product, but as a forum for direct conversations with farmers. The Inverness / Victoria Federation of Agriculture forwards this nomination based on the dramatic expansion in the number of participants, increased visitors and more weeks of operation as clear evidence of the interest and success of this venture.