Farmers market requiring insurance of vendors; many worry move will push away gardeners, hurt growth [Greeley Tribune, Colo.]

May 19--At this time of the year, seeds of all kinds are settling into the soil or soon will -- from farmers planting crops in their fields to backyard gardeners nursing vegetables, fruits and spices to fruition behind their homes.

And for 20 years, such a variety of edibles from a wide array of producers could be found at the Greeley Farmers Market following harvests.

But now, many are concerned a new requirement for vendors could hinder the diversity -- as well as the affordability for consumers, and the growth -- that's long been a trademark of the downtown food affair.

Effective this weekend, the city of Greeley, which operates the local farmers market, will require vendors to carry a minimum of $600,000 in general liability and product liability insurance -- a decision that comes less than a year after cantaloupe grown at Jensen Farms in southeastern Colorado was discovered to be the source of a listeria outbreak that killed 32 people in several states.

Carrying such insurance will have no effects on some local producers -- the farmers who grow and sell enough food to require them to already carry insurance.

But it's a different story for gardeners and other small-scale growers who don't produce the quantities to warrant paying the premium.

"It's certainly a concern," said Larry Buxman, a Greeley resident who grows 3 acres of peppers, vegetables and fruits -- placing him in the gray area of the situation.

Buxman said this week he's never had to carry insurance for what he grows, but plans to go ahead and pay for the insurance required by the city, hoping he'll sell enough this year to make it worth the investment.

However, paying the premium for a policy -- $420 for a year is so far the cheapest Buxman can find -- will make him raise prices on his goods, and he's convinced many growers smaller than him won't be able to afford taking their products to the local farmers market.

"I understand the need for it," Buxman said of the city requiring insurance. "But it is a sad thing. I know we're going to lose a lot of our local, small gardeners because of this.

"They really bring a lot to the event, and have helped this grow over the years ... but I just can't see them paying for this. It's frustrating, and it's another example of the little guys getting squeezed out."

Some small food growers who were considering taking their crops to the farmers market in the future already have said it's not going to happen now.

"Myself and some of our growers here had discussed getting involved in the farmers market," said Tim Preston, the owner of The Clay Center in Greeley, who donated portions of his business' 1-acre plot to the city of Greeley to start a community garden. "But there's just no way, with what little we grow, to make the expense of insurance worth it."

Karen Scopel, the community development and natural resource planner for the city of Greeley, who oversees the farmers market, said the decision to require insurance of vendors was made partially in response to the recent listeria outbreak, but also because the city is one of the very few farmers-market organizers in Colorado that doesn't already require insurance of its vendors.

"It's something that farmers markets everywhere have been doing all along," she said. "We figured it was time for us to do the same.

"Plus it's just a good thing for the vendors to have in case something does happen."

And it's a "wise" move, according to Bill Marler, an attorney from Seattle who represents 42 families who were affected by last year's listeria outbreak. Of those 42 cases, 20 involved victims who died.

"If someone gets sick, that family will have medical expenses, and those expenses have to be paid by someone," said Marler, who said the combined medical expenses of his 42 victims is about $7 million. "If the vendor isn't insured and can't cover those costs, it will be passed on to someone else -- the victim's family, medical insurance providers ... the state, taxpayers.

"You have to ask yourself, what's fair?"

Still, Scopel said she hopes the city's "risk-management" move won't detour small vendors from selling their products at the Greeley Farmers Market.

However, she understands it could be an issue.

Scopel said many of the vendors at the local farmers market are large enough growers that they likely already carry insurance, or at least can afford it. She added that gardeners and smaller-scale growers who sell at the Greeley Farmers Market typically come just a couple of times a year, because they quickly run out of products.

Regardless, Scopel doesn't want to see the event's growth come to a halt because of the new insurance requirement. The Greeley Farmers Market's sales numbers in recent years have been 10 times greater than those of the event's first year, and she'd like to see that trend continue.

The number of vendors at the Greeley Farmers Market ranges from about 10 to 50 through out the year, she noted.

Because most other farmers markets in the state have required insurance since their inceptions, there are few examples for Greeley to look to in predicting whether or not their decision to require insurance will hurt vendor numbers.

Scopel said she'll have a better idea of the full impact of the insurance requirement this summer, probably sometime in July, when the number of vendors, large and small, traditionally increases as fields and gardens are harvested.

But already, Scopel said, some vendors -- a couple of small crafts makers, who would only have to purchase the general liability coverage -- have told her they won't be back this year because they can't afford the insurance.

That's exactly what Deb Newsome and Lori Stevens -- both of whom are larger local growers and regular vendors at the farmers market who already carry the needed insurance -- don't want to hear.

"We feel bad for the small gardeners that will be affected by this," Stevens said. "The diversity they bring and the specialty items they offer have always been an asset to farmers market.

"It will be sad to see them go."

___

(c)2012 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.)

Visit the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.) at www.greeleytribune.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services