COVID-Addled State Government Abandons Vermont Farmers (OP/ED)

Publisher’s Note: “Who pray tell is the State of Vermont protecting by banning the distribution of  safe and healthy Vermont products by Farmers in our State?,” asks Royal Barnard. Good question. Read on.

Under the guise of Covid 19, rules were recently placed that prevent Vermont Farmers from participating in their normal course of retail and wholesale business. The apparent argument, as perceived by government, is that farmer’s markets are “gathering places” and not primarily food suppliers or vendors essential to life and commerce.

This notion proposed by government and joyfully swallowed by weak politicians has led to the most shameful affront and dis-service to the citizens of Vermont imaginable.
For those unfamiliar with Vermont, our state was founded by Farmers. Now our State has dealt a death blow to those Farmers as well as isolating local consumers from their best food resources.

In Rutland we have a large, safe, functional storefront and educational facility under the management of the Vermont Farmer’s Food Center. The facility is not-for-profit. It is primarily all volunteer, and is managed by a qualified and committed Board of Directors. The vendors who sell there cultivate, process, transport, handle and sell their own goods with great pride. Access to the marketplace is critical to their survival.

So, what harm do these Farmers do that warrants their dismissal from the opportunity to serve the better health of the public and earn revenues to support their families? There is simply no evidence or logic to support the State’s actions. Why are “big box” supermarkets OK and open and Farmers markets are not OK and closed?

Social distancing could be imagined as an issue. There MAY be farm markets somewhere that are run badly or at risk of spreading disease, but that is definitely not prevalent in Vermont. In Rutland social distancing was handled by the Rutland Farmers from the very beginning. There has been no complaint to the contrary. Meanwhile, social distancing is NOT enforced at the commercial grocery stores, so what do they have that would deny the need for good healthy local food?

As a continuing example, the Rutland Famers Food Center is little different from the layout of a typical “big box” grocery store but structured in a more limited fashion. The market makes no attempt to be more than it is. The market is manned by the most qualified personnel possible…. those being the people who produce the products. What could be better? No tractor trailers, loaders and unloaders, packagers, shelf stockers or unregulated suppliers from God knows where.

Every Farmer or purveyor of goods at the Farmer’s Market is regulated by the Vermont Departments of Health and Agriculture. Vermonters get no special treatment or relief from the rules. In fact they receive vastly more scrutiny than most who produce, distribute and supply food to the ‘big boxes.” There can be no argument that 90% of foods on Vermont shelves is NOT from Vermont. Where these products originate is anybody’s guess. The indication of the country of origin on the can, box or tag usually says only “distributed by……” but not by whom or from where. Should we be denied better alternatives?

Who pray tell is the State of Vermont protecting by banning the distribution of  safe and healthy Vermont products by Farmers in our State?

What is happening here is absolutely sinful. I say again, it is sinful.

To facilitate progress, the Rutland Farmers are preparing some universal guidelines to share with the government so that our politicians need not suffer from further intellectual paralysis.

The Farmers of Vermont are NOT the problem. Whether politically active corporate interests in the State are the root of the injustice is very well possible. That, however, is a fight for another day. 

Today we need justice for the Vermonters who serve us best, and they do not seem to live in Montpelier. Time to rise up and be heard Vermonters. Contact your representatives, senators and bureaucrats. Give them hell. Demand your right to access safe and healthy food and to protect our Farmers, their families and the destruction of the healthy and self sustaining heritage our State was founded upon.

Royal Barnard lives and works in the Rutland, Vermont area.