Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Keeping it homegrown: Farmers upset over changes in Greenwich market's
rules
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_12392329


GREENWICH -- John Plasko stood behind half-filled tables, ruing that he
couldn't sell bread this season at the Greenwich Farmers' Market.

"All that table would be filled with bread," he said, pointing into his
booth Saturday, the opening day of the seasonal market at the Arch Street
commuter lot near the Greenwich train station. "I would have 150 loaves of
bread, and everybody would come here for them."

But anyone looking for a loaf of his multigrain bread walked away
empty-handed, because this year the market ­-- in its 14th season -- has
a new rule that the products be at least 51 percent composed of ingredients
from the farmer's land, which has to be in Connecticut, Plasko said.

"I don't grow wheat, so I can't sell bread," the Trumbull farmer said with
a shrug. Plasko bakes his bread but doesn't grow wheat on his farm. On
Saturday, he relied on selling homemade pies and plants, including tomato
plants, to pay his bills.

Despite Plasko's frustration, there are strong reasons to enforce the rule,
said Jim Carr, 70.

Carr, director of the Greenwich Farmers' Market, said the policy is to
support Connecticut farmers and reassure consumers that they are purchasing
locally grown produce. At the same time, Carr said, the market isn't in the
business of undercutting local grocery stores.

"You could have someone buy bread wholesale and come in here and sell it,
and that isn't the principle" of the market, he said. "What is sold at the
Advertisement
market has to be a product of agricultural operations on the farmer's
property and that property has to be in Connecticut."

If there are questions about a farmer's products, Carr said the market can
ask to see his crop plan, which is filed with the state Department of
Agriculture.

If a farmer is selling items that do not come from the vendor's farm, they
would be asked not to sell the items, Carr said. Vendors also could be
refused to return to the market if they continued to sell products they
could not prove came from their farms.

One customer, Loretta DiMaio, disagreed with the new requirement.

The 65-year-old has been attending the market every year, and said buying
Plasko's bread was one of the highlights.

"It just doesn't seem to make sense and it doesn't seem fair," the Cos Cob
resident said. "When it comes to bread it's a little difficult.

"To walk in and see such empty tables, it's going to hurt the vendor and
it's going to hurt us as customers," she said.

Another change also received a thumbs down from DiMaio. Within a few weeks
-- Carr said he hasn't been told when -- the market will move from its
longtime home in the Arch Street commuter lot to the employee parking lot
at Town Hall on Field Point Road. That will leave the Arch Street lot free
for beach parking.

Judy Waldeyer, who calls herself "The Jam Lady" because she sells homemade
jams and condiments, said the move will be good for vendors like herself.

"I think it's a better location because there is more room for parking,"
she said of the Town Hall lot.

DiMaio disagreed. She said the current site offers vendors much more
visibility to passing motorists.

"It's right off the highway and it has good exposure," DiMaio said. "I
don't think the town employees' parking lot has that."

For most shoppers, the market's opening day allowed them a chance to buy
food that comes directly from the farmer. It also gave them a chance to
talk to the person who produces the food and not a middleman.

"You can talk to the farmer about their products and their meats," said
town resident Tanya Smith, 36.

For Michael Sandifer, 58, who was shopping with his wife Heather, the
market reminded him of the ones he has visited in France. He said he likes
the social nature of browsing for food in the open air.

"It's more of a European flavor, or French, where you go to the market
every Saturday," the town resident said after sampling some cheese from one
of the vendors, as he and his wife Heather stopped at one of the dozen
booths present.

The market is open every Saturday through Nov. 21.

-- Staff Writer Frank MacEachern can be reached at
frank.maceachern@scni.com or 750-5351.