Perth Voice Interactive

THE Leederville Farmers Market kicks off this Sunday opposite the hotel, with everything for sale having to be produced in WA.

Organised by Sarcha Thurston and Paul Ashbolt, the markets won a resounding thumbs up at Vincent council’s last meeting of 2013, with local after local fronting the meeting to praise the plan.

Mr Ashbolt says it was encouraging to get so much support as his first dabble in a farmers’ market was poorly received.

About three years ago he tried to set up at City Beach, but didn’t get a friendly reception from locals living near the school, who lodged objections with council.

“It created a great amount of disappointment,” he says, but with the markets further from homes this time and locals already extremely keen to get along he’s hoping this Sunday will be more successful.

Mr Ashbolt says one of his reasons for starting the markets is to support farmers who are hard-done by with the Coles/Woolies duopoly.

“I’m from an agricultural background, I’m very passionate about our rural sector and the raw deal they’re getting under the current food supply system, particularly smaller producers.

“This is all about providing a platform where smaller WA producers have the opportunity to sell their produce directly to the community.

“It enables them to bypass the system as it is at the moment, which is fairly mercenary and predatory.

“Our biodiversity and food security is being decimated at the moment,” he says, a side-effect of “two leviathans slugging it out with each other” and trying to find ever-cheaper products from overseas.

“You need to go no further than the milk wars to understand that in the process they put a lot of people out of business.

“And often it’s the best people, because the best people spend the most amount of time and money to produce a good product.

“What it does is reduces us to the lowest common denominator.

“You can cite the vegies coming in from China: The reason they sell them is they can buy them for a third of the price there, [and] we’ve got opaque labeling laws so people aren’t sure where they’re coming from.”

He’s hoping local businesses support them being there. While some may be concerned about the markets poaching business, Mr Ashbolt points to a parliamentary inquiry done over east that showed 60 per cent of marketgoers spend money at nearby shops too.

The markets run every Sunday from 7.30am to noon, 663 Newcastle Street Leederville.

by DAVID BELL