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On March 24, Gov. Phil Scott directed all companies and nonprofits not deemed critical to “suspend in-person” operations. Farms — as well as ancillary CSAs, farm stands and food hubs — can stay open. But farmers markets are not technically allowed to operate under that order, Anson Tebbetts, secretary of the state Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, told members of the House Agriculture and Forestry committee on Friday morning.
“In a farmers market, you know, traditionally, there’s a culture of a gathering,” he said. “And we need to be very careful about — we don’t want to have a lot of people showing up in a confined space at one time.”
The Agency of Agriculture is working with the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, as well as the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, to come up with a way for markets to stay open if they implement social distancing and other public health measures, he said. This would mean no more music and prepared food, now staples of many farmers markets, and more of a focus on basics like spinach and root vegetables, Tebbetts added.
Vermont has nine winter markets, with 20 more expected to open in May and 40 more in June, according to Tebbetts.
Jennie Porter, market development manager for the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, said markets should be designated as essential as some farms rely on them to make a living. And they’re a way for people who use the SNAP program to buy food without having to drive to the grocery store, she added.
“I think they’re a critical food access point for a lot of people and have been unnecessarily cut out of the system,” she said in an interview. Porter, who is also manager of the Vermont Farmers Market Association, stressed that NOFA was only promoting farmers markets as “modified operations that could uphold public safety.”
Tebbetts pointed to the Bennington Farmers’ Market as a template for other markets hoping to stay open. John Primmer, an organic farmer and president of the board of that market, told representatives on the agriculture committee that they held their last indoor market in early March, but felt it would be unsafe to continue operating as normal.
“Like the rest of the state, Bennington County, we’re rather gray — myself included,” he said.
For their next market, the board decided to only take advanced orders and designate times for curbside pickup. One challenge facing the market, like many services in Vermont scrambling to adjust to the pandemic, was that many of their customers do not have internet — “so there were a lot of phone calls,” said Primmer. Bennington has received an exemption to continue operating, said Porter, and has its next market scheduled for this Saturday, April 4, using pre-orders and curbside pickup.
Meanwhile, the ever popular Burlington Farmers Market canceled its final winter market of the season. Montpelier’s Capital City Farmers Market is planning to continue operating its biweekly market like a “food hub,” said manager and Northfield vegetable farmer Hannah Blackmer.
Customers would pre-order what they want from specific vendors on the market’s website, and then pick up their packaged orders, similar to grabbing a CSA share, at the market’s downtown Heney Lot summer location. Blackmer added that the market is also hoping to add options for curbside pickup and delivery.
“Obviously, the health of our customers and our vendors is paramount because farmers need to be able to continue to provide food for people,” she said. “So if we’re getting sick, or our customers are getting sick — that’s a big problem.”
