Looking at the inviting booths and fresh goods at Thursday’s weekly Westwood Farmers’ Market on June 24, it seemed like last week was no different than any other for the growers and sellers that have been gracing Weyburn Avenue with their homegrown produce and fresh-cut flowers for the past 10 years.
But last week was the first time the market was held after it had been expelled June 15 from the Southland Farmers’ Market Association for “financial irregularities.” The trade association represents over 20 certified farmers’ markets and more than 700 certified California producers, providing legislative and advertising support for the markets.
The association said the Westwood market had violated its code of ethics, which led to its decision to expel the market – the first expulsion in the association’s 21 years of existence.
“The market has refused to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars of unexplained expenses over the last several years. In addition, there is no evidence that the market has provided financial assistance to the Westwood community programs as was its original intent,” a press release from the association said.
Both the association’s leaders and vendors say the farmer’s market likely will continue without Southland’s support as it did Thursday.
The Westwood market’s manager, Aaron Shapiro, and associate manager, Steve Whipple, could not be reached for comment after numerous phone calls made to the market’s office since Wednesday.
Members of Southland are required to pay association fees and file monthly income reports for the market to have transparency and accountability to the community, said Howell Tumlin, executive director for Southland.
Westwood’s market had not done either for at least the past year, said Laura Avery, president of Southland’s board of directors and market manager of the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market.
“The larger issue is that we feel that the farmers’ market is a community service. … The market should be accountable to that community,” Tumlin said. “The most important way to do that is to be transparent about how the money in the market is spent.”
Both Tumlin and Avery say the Westwood market easily could be granted readmission into the association if it simply abides by the code of ethics and membership agreement.
Market managers from markets comparable to Westwood’s said they have had no difficulties complying with Southland’s policies.
Still, the Westwood market has no legal obligation to make expenditure reports, said Cato Fiksdal, the L.A. County agricultural commissioner, whose department licensed the market when it was founded in 1994.
County officials also said they had no jurisdiction over the dispute between Southland and the market.
Though the dispute at hand is directly limited to Southland and the market, interviews with several farmers’ markets and vendors across Southern California make it apparent that there’s more to the story than Westwood Farmers’ Market’s expulsion from its trade association.
Some vendors are concerned that the Westwood market has been collecting fees for the trade association but has not been using the money to pay the association.
“The farmers are a little reticent to say anything. … We are barely making it and afraid of being kicked out,” said one farmer who sells peaches and apples in Westwood and wished to remain unidentified.
She added that she had been selling her goods in Westwood since the market’s inception and cannot bring herself to move.
“If I had a choice, I would go to a different market. … But in most ways its our market and our community’s market,” the farmer said.
But another vendor, Bob Polito – a farmer who grows citrus fruits and avocados in his farm in northern San Diego – had no recollection whether the market directors had collected fees and says he has experienced a good working relationship with the management.
There’s also James Pudwill, a berry grower, who discontinued his relationship with the Westwood market several years ago. Pudwill said he had been dissatisfied with a relocation of his booth within the market and with the fact the market began selling goods from noncertified growers. But Pudwill adds this practice is becoming common among other farmers’ markets.
Another point of concern is the nonprofit organization that sponsors the Westwood Market, an organization that was established and run by the market’s management – which is an unusual practice, Tumlin says.
County law requires all certified farmers’ markets to be sponsored by a state agency, a farmer or a nonprofit organization.
The organization, named the Farmers’ Market Education Foundation, was created last year when its original nonprofit sponsor dissolved. Tumlin said he urged the city to look to other already established organizations to run the market – he even tried UCLA but was refused.