Like elsewhere, Vaughan farmers market is adapting, offering curbside pickup

‘I don’t know what’s going to happen in the summer’

Yorkregion.com
May 8, 2020
Lisa Queen

This season will “absolutely” be different for farmers’ markets, which will have to demonstrate to public health units that they are selling prepackaged food, aren’t allowing non-food items to be sold and have proper protocols in place governing issues such as physical distancing and available hand sanitizer, Catherine Clark, executive director of Farmers’ Markets Ontario, said.

“Markets are to be considered essential services. They are not events. It’s a shop-and-go (approach),” she said.

“It’s (usually) a social thing; you meet your friends, you’re in a park. No, as organizers, that’s not the way the markets are going to operate this year. You’re going to be asked to move along. You gotta get in and you gotta get out.”

York Region public health works closely with farmers’ markets, including now to ensure COVID-19 precautions are taken, Scott Cholewa, manager of infectious diseases, said.

Markets are encouraged to have their vendors set up so customers can preorder and prepay online, have curbside pickup and have items prepackaged to eliminate handling, he said.

This is already happening. For example, Sandy Farms in Woodbridge is adapting.

Not only does it give a clear schedule of the season availability of its fresh produce, but it’s offering curbside pickup as people can easily order online.

Woodbridge Village Farmers Market is also online.

“We are working hard on ways for our markets to operate when spring arrives, including online sales,” it said on its website.

Others are worried about summertime.

“We’re rolling with the punches because I don’t know what’s going to happen in the summer,” Brooke Scott, manager of the Village Market, said in a phone interview on April 27.

In order to adapt, Scott decided to move the indoor farmers’ market to a parking lot in order to practise physical distancing while keeping the market open to the public.

There are currently five farmers and one baker on-site every Saturday morning, selling prepackaged food only.

The vendors are staying two metres away from each other, and two hand-sanitizing stations are available.

On top of that, one farmer who has 15 tables has to set them 12 feet apart from each other.

York Farmers Market in Thornhill has closed its non-essential vendors, and has its hours reduced.

"During this time, we are being extra diligent in terms of cleanliness and additional precautions are in place for sanitary measures," it assured its customers.

York Farm Fresh, a non-profit organization uniting farmers, farmers’ markets and others promoting local food growth in York Region, has a section on its website yorkfarmfresh.com showing the measures a number of local food producers are taking to provide safe, local food during the pandemic.

On April 25, the provincial government changed course to declare community food gardens an essential service.

Local medical officers of health will provide advice, recommendations and instructions that the gardens must meet in order to operate, such as physical distancing and cleaning and disinfecting practices.

And on April 27, the federal and provincial governments announced an investment of up to $2.5 million to help the agri-food sector expand online, providing more opportunities for producers to grow their business and offer more food choices for families who are shopping from home during the COVID-19 outbreak.

As some make their adjustments, others have decided to close.

When trying to call G.P. Farm & Garden Centre in Concord, a phone message says it’s “unfortunately closed” due to COVID-19 and they are hoping to open after May 15. "Please keep checking for regular updates," the message added.

"We cannot open on May 6 as previously stated," due to orders to stay at home.