Last month, council received a request from Cavan resident Larissa Nicholson, to launch a REKO-style farmers’ market in the township.
Backed by a group of six local producers, Nicholson proposed a weekly event on Thursdays between the hours of 5:45‐6:45 operating in a municipal parking lot where food producers could supply their products directly to the consumer. Nicholson is a grower herself, producing micro greens with partner Jon through their operation called Little Leaf Greens.
REKO is a Finnish trade model and the term means fair consumption. A rapidly expanding model across Europe, it is gaining ground in Canada, with examples operating in Belleville, Bowmanville, Brighton and Cobourg. It is a volunteer organization so there are no fees for participation. The objective of this style of market is to create a local food network, building a direct relationship between producers and consumers, which stabilizes income for smaller producers.
The organizers intend to operate continuously during the growing season, and provide more local goods to the community on a regular basis. Participants may only sell what they produce. Connection between producer and consumer is established through a Facebook page dedicated to the Cavan/Millbrook area. Each week, producers will advertise the goods they have available for sale and customers pre-order the products they wish to purchase that week. Orders are binding and all goods must be picked up as agreed. Ordered goods are brought to the market location for pick up. Most orders will be prepaid via e‐transfer for no contact payment, but cash payments will also be available.
Market organizers are eager to launch the market soon, so they are prepared to operate with Covid-19 precautions. Each producer will have their own table separated by 2 metres and products sold will be labelled by customer. Customers will arrive to pick up their orders and wait in their car until their producer is clear or customers can stand in a line for their producers 2 meters apart. Once the producer’s customers have all come to pick up their orders – the producers pack up and go. There is no waiting around. Those paying cash will deliver it in a Ziploc bag so it can be untouched by the recipient until it is safe to do so.
The REKO market proposal has received the support of the more traditional monthly Millbrook Farmers’ Market organizing committee, which recognize that the weekly model represents a direct business transaction that will attract a different market segment. Millbrook Farmers’ Market organizer Leni Rautiainen notes that the existing monthly Sunday market is a social, community-building event and suggests that the two markets could complement each other and expand access to vendors the monthly group cannot accommodate. The two groups plan to work together to ensure both models continue to function well.
REKO markets provide a unique opportunity to encourage local self-sufficiency and support small-scale producers who often operate with more ethical and sustainable production values. Think of it as a local version of Fair Trade.
The request has been approved, the only question now is where it will operate. Let’s hope it’s in time for strawberry season! To learn more about REKO, visit https://rekocanada.ca. KG
