Wanganui's River Traders weekend market is set to get even bigger.
A new section will soon be added specialising in locally grown produce and products made with locally sourced ingredients.
And that's a move that Annette Main, one of the driving forces behind River Traders, believes will be good for consumers and local producers.
The plan to expand the market follows Rivers Traders signing up with the national organisation Farmers Markets New Zealand.
Ms Main said The River Traders had become so successful in the past three and a half years there were at least 10 stalls that already fitted the criteria for a farmers market section.
"It won't be huge to start with, because some stall holders are seasonal. But it will be clearly labelled as an authentic farmers market."
The River Traders Market currently has two sections -- a mixed section and a grocers green section.
Under the rules of affiliation with Farmers Markets New Zealand, stall holders in the new section will have to ensure shoppers know exactly where their food has come from, Ms Main said.
"I didn't think that we would get to the stage where we would have enough local producers. We are not known for it. We didn't want to become a farmers market straight out because we wanted to get the market established and producers on board."
"Now that we have The River Traders up and going, we can develop the farmers market section."
Presently, the market is using the Manawatu-Wanganui region as a loose guideline as to who constitutes a "local" producer.
However, Ms Main said they would need to choose a specific area but it could be as large or small as they liked.
"We haven't defined it because we wanted to make sure we had a range of product. We will need to decide on a definite range in future, it could be in kilometres. We'd like to talk about it with the neighbouring markets first."
Ms Main said they had also been waiting on the Wanganui District Council to announce their preferred site for the new Information Centre before deciding where to locate the Farmers Market.
"We've got some ideas about where to have the market, but we didn't want to make any decisions about how it might work before knowing if the Information Centre would be down there."
"Now that we know what the council's Information Centre preference is, we can plan to get a site for the farmers market."
Ms Main said the added section will mean she would have to rethink her own stall if she wants to be in the farmers market, as some of her products are made from outsourced ingredients.
"It's pretty exciting really. It's a bit of a change for me."
Ms Main said there was a growing trend for people wanting to access local food and it was a challenge to the supermarkets to meet the demand.
"I think they complement each other. There's always going to be the supermarket buyers and the market buyers. There's an awful lot of product we don't grow. People grow a lot of specialty items in the market."
+ If anyone is making or growing produce locally and would like to know more about the market, email info@therivertraders.co.nz.
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