About

Vancouver Farmers Markets (otherwise known as Your Local Farmers Market Society) is about people who love fresh food at festive gatherings. With the initial goal in 1995 to create the fun and value of weekly Farmers Markets in urban settings, the Society and the Markets have become Vancouver plazas of fun, discovery, and connecting.

The good feeling of the Markets gets even deeper. We produce our weekly Markets to create healthy food networks that sustain our land, our community, and our homes.

When you shop at Vancouver Farmers Markets, you help keep BC farmers farming.

Through the Markets and our special events, the Society spreads awareness of agricultural issues facing our largely urban society. These issues range from the truths about genetically modified foods, to fair pricing for agricultural products, to the glory of a variety of foods available with a locally-networked food system. If you have questions about how and what kinds of food arrive at your table, a visit to the Markets, and a tour of this website, will bring you some fresh answers.

Vancouver Farmers Markets History - 1994 - 1999

 

JOB OPPORTUNITIES
To learn more about job opportunities with Vancouver Farmers Markets, visit our Employment page.

 

2010 - 11 YLFMS Board of Directors

YLFMS Constitution and By-Laws

Amy Robertson, Board Chair
Amy joined the Market board in 2005, bringing with her years of organic farming and market experience.  She and her husband owned and operated what is now Glen Valley Organic Co-op, and is a founding member of Langley Organic Growers, the Mission Farmer's Market, Happy Planet Foods, and Better Choice Organics, a farmer's marketing group.  She is also the past  president of BCARA and the Linnaea Farm Society on Cortes Island.  Amy lives in Vancouver with Gregor and their 4 children, has a backyard garden, and loves to weave both willow and cedar baskets.

Joni Sherman, Co-Chair
Joni Sherman joined the Vancouver Farmers Market Board in 2005 with great enthusiasm. She is an avid gardener, permaculturist, and an aspiring apiarist. Joni is an active member of the YLFMS Vendor Advisory Committee, various fundraising campaigns and membership development. She advocates urban, regional and sustainable agriculture by eating locally and seasonally whenever possible.

She is a librarian, cyclist, runner, and is a true believer in community.

Andrew Hale
Andrew Hale graduated from the University of Victoria in 2003 with a degree in Geography and Environmental Studies. In 2005, Andrew completed a certificate in Community and Economic Development at SFU.
Andrew believes that a strong, locally-focused food production system is essential. He has farmed for the past six growing seasons at the Yarrow Ecovillage and most Saturdays, during the summer, he can be found at his farm's stall at Trout Lake.

Bob Ransford
Bob Ransford is a communications and public affairs consultant who specializes in dealing with urban development issues and complicated urban land use challenges. He is also a community volunteer who has contributed his energy and ideas over the last 30 years to a myriad of community-serving agencies. His earlier career pursuits were in journalism and politics where he acquired an advanced understanding of public policy decision-making. He has written a regular column on urban affairs in the Vancouver Sun newspaper for nearly nine years. Bob has a keen interest in agricultural urbanism and its application in our everyday lives. He brings his communications skills, knowledge of local government decision-making and his passion for community building and for food and agriculture to the Board. Bob Ransford is a fourth generation Richmond resident, living on the same property his family began farming nearly a century ago.

Deb Taschuk
From a life volunteering for Community Service, I offer no ‘I’ this or that, except… For the past 30 years I have been committed to service to ‘Sustaining the Big Picture’, the full circle of communities and the eco-systems that support them. It is essential to keep Farmers on their land, Fishers on their boats and the Artisans, Bakers, Crafters active and productive, which keeps a family whole, talents flourishing, the land valued, active and preserved, and consumption connected to our vital communities.

Knowing the saving Grace of us all is the Respect of our Environments and a value of the vast webs and networks of dynamic Food Systems, from the most voracious nemitode and worms to humans, it has been an honour and a privilege to serve, support and promote Farmers, producers and the extraordinary community of markets.

Serving on the farmers market board is the opportunity to appreciate how the markets have enriched and blessed our city lives with a superior quality of living with all the amazing produce, crafts, talents and products that we would not otherwise have the chance to enjoy if not for the Farmers’ markets.

I truly believe the Farmers markets will help save farms, fishers, artisans and their families, thus their communities and in turn save our amazing planet.

Kristi Tatebe
Kristi Tatebe lives in the Grandview-Woodlands neighbourhood with her fiancée Ben and their cat Rachel. She graduated in 2004 from UBC's faculty of Land and Food Systems, and studied permaculture and organic farming in New Zealand and Australia. She holds a Master's from UBC's School of Community and Regional Planning, with a focus on ecological design and sustainable communities. She currently works as a climate change researcher with a focus on urban agriculture, and is a passionate backyard gardener and avid farmer's market shopper. She believes in the overwhelming power of local food and farmer's markets as a feel-good catalyst for social and environmental change, and is committed to strengthening their presence and security in Vancouver.

Currently operating on temporary event permits, Vancouver farmer's markets play a central role in ensuring the community has access to quality, organic food, and in providing the region's farmers access to markets in urban centres. As a professional planner, Kristi would be ideally positioned to liaise with both City staff and the society, to work toward securing permanent tenure for market sites, and to see this reflected in policy. While this would be Kristi's main focus during her Board term, she is also interested in making markets more accessible to low-income members of the community, while ensuring that vendors receive a fair price for their high-quality products. As well, Kristi would like to promote transparent communication between the Board and you, the membership.

Pat McCarthy
Pat McCarthy is a Langley resident and owner (with his spouse) of A Bread Affair. Since opening the bakery in 2006, he has been focused on promoting its hand crafted organic artisan breads. In that time he has worked to develop direct relationships with growers both on the prairies and in the Fraser Valley and has developed specialty products to use local food sources.
As a value-added processor of agricultural products, Pat helps to create a market for BC and Fraser Valley items as well as showcase the world class stature of our unique blend of soils and climate. Pat says “Ultimately, the bakery, and my involvement with local food, is a personal political statement. I believe that if humanity is to survive and continue to prosper, we in North America specifically, but in the world more generally, must eat lower on the food chain. But with that, I believe that we will still be able to eat very well. The bakery is an example of how we can continue to eat well, but lower on that food chain”.

Will Woods
Will Woods is a resident of the West End where he lives with his wife Alicia. Will has a passion for eating local sustainable food and in supporting local food networks. Will is a regular and enthusiastic visitor to both the West End farmers’ market and the winter farmers’ market. Will is a senior manager for consulting firm Deloitte, where he specializes in helping organizations identify and manage risk. Will’s clients include private and public sector organizations across BC, including crown corporations and credit unions. Will believes his experience will be valuable in bringing business-focused perspective to the organization’s decisions.

To be effective, a market requires support from a range of stakeholders: market shoppers, local farmers,
government, business and other non-profit organizations. Will’s overall area of focus as a board member would be to support these partnerships and to hence solidify the Vancouver Farmers Markets as a valuable element of the city’s culture. More specific areas of focus Will would have as a board member include: strategy development; deepening engagement with members and broadening the membership-base; and maintaining low market fees for farmers through the pursuit of diverse revenue streams.

To contact the Board, email board at eatlocal.org