Mainstream media newsroom managers scrambled late last week, faced with a compound headache. Sorting out the details of a brewing battle between small potato growing operations and a provincial marketing board is hard enough, but they are also assessing the risk to their own jobs if they cover the story. The only thing worse than a complex story, is one where the execs upstairs mutter "bury it, they're a big advertiser".
The facts first broke on a website of Waverley grocer Crampton's Market.
http://cramptonsmarket.blogspot.com/2009/09/bad-news-for-manitoba-potato-eatersand.html
"Until this year, farmers who did not grow potatoes for Peak of the Market were allowed to grow 4 acres of potatoes to sell on their own. This year Peak of the Market changed the rules as of July 15th. Now farmers are not allowed to grow potatoes to sell unless they have a Peak of the Market quota and sell only to Peak of the Market... It is now illegal to grow and sell your own potatoes in Manitoba. Peak of the Market has the legal authority to fine farmers who break these rules, and the fines are high."
POTM lawyers threatened farmers, who started the growing season on the understanding the rules allowed for them to grow and sell 4 acres of spuds privately, with $10,000 fines for bypassing the monopoly, and demanded records of who they had sold potatoes to, going as far back as 2007. Consumers felt deceived by a decade of feel-good ad campaigns portraying POTM as all-around community do-gooders and never mentioned that it was, in fact, a produce version of The Canadian Wheat Board. Public outrage at the bullying of potato farmers by "Peak" forced the hand of some newsrooms to report the story.
Crampton's has now posted a follow -up:
"(CTV learned) The 4 acres referred to in the Peak documents simply was there to classify those growers as 'small growers'. But they should still have, by law, been marketing their potatoes through Peak. This 'change' in their document taking away the 4 acres was in fact not a change at all, just a clarification of the law... I think that the Peak document was purposely written in a convoluted manner...As far as I am aware, Peak of the Market does not handle new crop 'immature' local potatoes. I have been informed by a few farmers that Peak does not sell quota in this category. These are the potatoes that I would like to buy. Peak does not sell them, but Manitoba farmers are prevented from legally growing and selling them to me."
President and CEO Larry McIntosh has been front and centre in slick Peak of the Market advertising campaigns designed to position him as the carrot-wielding friend of children and the local farm industry, urging shoppers to choose the "less-traveled" POTM-label produce over imported varieties.
So successful was the persona in the ads, that McIntosh, never known to have made any serious public pronouncement beyond "eat your vegetables kids", has variously been touted in recent years as a possible candidate for parliament, the legislature, city hall, the mayor's chair, and talk show host.
Since POTM collected prizes and awards for being a successful "business", it was perceived by the general public as a farmers co-op. Upon learning that it was actually a "non-profit" provincial marketing board, and perceiving it as bullying farmers in a manner that would have made Stalin proud for not paying the mandatory per-potato tribute, a backlash in the form of a consumer boycott of the "Peak" brand is underway.
McIntosh faces the first serious crisis of his reign as farm baron of Manitoba.
Away in the Yukon when the story broke, he stuck to the "we are only just worried about food safety" line with CTV, figuring no one would question the sincerity of his "concerns".
Unfortunately, he also told the Free Press that the threatening letters started when a farmer with a superior, rare product sold his crop directly to Sobey's, not because someone was rushed to an emergency room after eating a "creamer".
Listeners flooded the Kick-FM email box, noting that the fees seemed to be paying for McIntosh himself to be sold to consumers as much as the food, and that the quality of POTM branded potatos has been second-rate for years.
One listener wrote during Friday's broadcast:
"Hi Marty, after hearing the crap Peak of the Market is pulling off, I will never buy their products again. I will head down to the farmers market or go down Henderson Highway and buy from the local farmers. Larry Mcintosh can go stick it (location redacted)."
A farmer told us
"Peak of The Market only wants a handful of large growers in this Province and is slowly pushing out all the little guys one by one. The big growers like Kroeker Farms in Altona have the most clout in not only acres grown but also on the board as well and seems to be giving Larry McIntosh a mandate that they control this industry."
We'll see if anyone in the mainstream media investigates the question who is really being protected here (starting with asking why the POTM website does not bother to list the directors), or if protection of their lucrative "Peak" advertising accounts is more of a priority than holding Mr. Carrot and his organization accountable.
PS. We were copied on an email that was sent to federal MP Joy Smith by a farmer:
From: xxxxx
To: joy@joysmithmp.ca
Subject: Potato Growers and Peak of the Market
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:54:25 -0500
Dear Joy,
I'm sure you've seen the article in today's Free Press about Peak of the Markets' attempt to control the small local farmer's choice of market.
I've pasted below several e-mails that we have circulated this morning, as this would affect us directly. Most people have limited knowledge of
the amount of money, time and sweat equity that small farmers put in in an effort to earn a living - for some their only income, for some a second source
of income.
With all the attention paid nowadays to promoting local produce which is not only much fresher but reduces reliance on food from sometimes hundreds of miles away (which increases carbon output greatly), you would think that independent producers would be a welcome addition to the market. And local producers are for the most part seasonal operations - with our climate, we don't have the luxury of growing things all year round.
Not only would this put local producers out of business, but think of all the spin-off - students and others may be out of part-time summer work, roadside stand operators will lose income, seed companies will lose orders from producers, farm equipment manufacturers may lose orders as well. It's never just one person or industry affected..
I'm not sure if you can bring any pressure to bear on this issue with the market board or the legislature but as this could affect a number of growers in the East St. Paul area, I wanted to bring more detail to your attention.
Thanks,
xxxxx
