Two Good Friends at the Guelph Organic Conference

Johann Kleinsasser kind of scared me when I met him.He has a terse seeming tone to his voice that can put you off at first, but then you realize he's a gentle soul. Luckily I got past that and became an intern on his farm, Whole Circle Farm, in 2010.
But I kind of scared Cookie Roscoe when we first met. It was around 2009 when I visited her Artscape Wychwood Farmers' Market to inquire about being a vendor selling pancakes from fresh ground flour. I was still in New York City mode, asking question upon question, not letting her speak. She later said that she gets a zillion such inquiries. Thankfully she told me in so many polite words that day to get lost. I did, and while I was lost I discovered garlic.

Leveraging the Collective Brand of Farmers' Markets with Market Bucks

I was wondering, farmers' markets have a powerful brand, in part due to the trust that farmers enjoy - they occupy the most trusted occupation, after firefighters and nurses. How can farmers' markets leverage their strong brand? While consulting with the Greenbelt Farmers Market Network I suggested the idea of creating a coupon or voucher, to Anne Freeman. These would be spent by customers at participating markets, and the redemption cost covered by sponsors. Anne thought it was worth pursuing, and now, for three consecutive years, TD Bank has been the sponsor of the TD Bank Farmers' Market Buck.

The buck has had many iterations, with individual markets creating their own market buck and soliciting local businesses to be a market buck sponsor using sponsor pitch material I created. Sponsors pay up front and sponsors' fees cover the cost of redeeming bucks presented by vendors. Because not all market bucks find their way back to the market - some get lost or laundered beyond recognition - this is profit for the market.

The idea behind this is to get farmers' markets to be more entrepreneurial.