The state of California scheduled a series of public meetings on how to combat cheating by farmers at the state's more than 700 farmers markets.
The first "listening session," as they're called, was Wednesday in Sacramento, with California's Secretary of Food and Agriculture A.G. Kawamura participating. Kawamura said Wednesday afternoon that "there's room for improvement" when it comes to regulation.
Three other sessions will be in the coming weeks, including one next week in Santa Monica. Follow NBCLA's Joel Grover on Twitter for updates from Sacramento.
Last month, an undercover NBCLA investigation exposed how some vendors at LA area farmers markets were claiming their produce was "locally grown," when in fact it was grown on large commercial farms, some as far away as Mexico.
In other cases, NBCLA found farmers selling produce labeled "pesticide free," even though lab tests showed presence of pesticides. Consumers usually pay higher prices at farmers markets, because they believe they're buying produce that's locally grown and often organic. But Agriculture Commissioners in several counties told NBCLA that cheating is rampant at farmers markets. It's their job to police the markets and penalize cheaters, but they say because of a lack of manpower, they're unable to do many investigations or to keep a close eye on markets.
At Wednesday's public meeting, there will be testimony from various people on how to improve California's Certified Farmers Market program. Greta Dunlap, manager of the Beverly Hills Farmers Market, said she was asked to make a presentation on how to stop cheating at farmers markets. Dunlap said she'll tell the state Board of Food and Agriculture that there needs to be more money for better enforcement of the law. And she believes that the managers of each market need better training on how to spot cheaters.
At each of the four "listening sessions," the state Department of Food and Agriculture is encouraging the public to attend and give feedback on how to improve the farmers market system. The popularity of farmers markets continues to explode across the state, with new markets opening every month. There are now over 300 farmers markets in the greater LA area.
The only listening session to be held in the LA area will be Nov. 1 at 5:30pm, at the Main Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., in Santa Monica.
