Direct purchase movement in Rēzekne

On Tuesday, the green in Rēzekne is much bigger than the day. In the early days, the farmers and the household producers bring their products in the boxes - cartons of cream and yoghurt, cheese, butter, curd sachets, kefir bottles, vegetable bags, smell of home baked, still warm bread. In the afternoons, these products are gradually moving into commissioning bags. The direct purchase movement in Rezekne started at the beginning of December 2014 and has been expanding over nearly two months, covering an increasing number of buyers and sellers.
Direct purchase pools are collectively created and organised by purchasers-enthusiasts on a regular basis on a weekly basis at fresh organic local food by purchasing it directly from organic farmers. In Rezekne, the initiators of this movement are the owner of the “green” owner Iveta Ieva Aleksane and the future building ingenieris, a student of Riga Technical University Mārtiņš Arbidans, who deals with it on a voluntary basis without any remuneration.
On the question of why a young man devotes his free time to such a crime, Martin laughs. “I don't like supermarkets at all and shopping in them, so i've been living in Riga in a similar direct purchase movement.” Yes, i also have a heart for what is happening in Latvian countryside, where big producers are using more chemicals to achieve higher crops, but buyers are forced to buy these products because there is nothing else. I have been thinking much about these things, and the only way out i see not in globalisation, but in localisation – by establishing as close links as possible with the producer. When i returned to Rēzekne, i wanted to organize something like that, but there was no place to do it. Then i found the “green” store, and it was successful. Everything came out and we're doing it. “I've got the experience, so i don't have any trouble.”
“I wanted to have healthy, organic products in my store, but i couldn't see how it could be done, because the places here are very little,” – the “green” manager Iveta Ieva Aleksane is involved in the conversation. “Dina Butler (the“ Learn ”consultant of the municipality of Rēzekne – A.R.) told me about the direct purchase, and it happened that a new man came into the shop the next day and asked – have you thought of the direct purchase? It was Martin. '
The direct purchase scheme is quite simple: you need to contact the pulciņa organisers by email zalais.v@inbox.lv or tartins.arbidans@gmail.com, or by phone 28732511 - Martin, or 28688041 - Iveta to leave your email address. The following is Martin's message: “Wednesdays, i send an e-mail-sharing table with a farmer's offer so that people can figure out what they want and write their orders by Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, i closed this table and sent all the applications to farmers. On Tuesday, the farmers prepare everything and bring everything to Rezekne on Tuesday to 16.00, then up to the closure of the store, at noon. 18.00 buyers can receive their orders. '
His order was also received by Rhozekniete Guna. “I used this opportunity for the second time, found information in feisbuck.” I'm just trying to taste all the stuff i like, which i don't like. I think it's a very good chance for buyers, and if there are still such people, like Martin, who does it on his own initiative, it's very nice. What else would you like? Maybe more product diversity, yes. '
“I would like, of course, to have more products, greater variety of vegetables to be not only traditional potatoes, bulbs, beet, but also horseradish, celery, garlic, spinach etc. So that the young mothers could get biologically grown pumpkins for pups. We have a good collaboration with the municipality of Rezekne, with Dina butlers, both in the identification of producers and in establishing different contacts. I hope that this cooperation will be expanding,“ adds Iveta Ieva Alexander. She hopes to move the store to a more comfortable place. “There were 20 orders for one week, then everything was packed with boxes, but i hope that the end of February, the beginning of March, will be more room for both sellers and customers.”
More information on the supply of direct purchase and product offers can also be found by joining the pages created by the “green” store in social networks: www.draugiem.lv/zalaisveikals/ and www.facebook.com/zalaisveikals/, as well as the Rezekne municipality website.
The practice of direct purchase has been active in many countries in the world for more than 10 years, as an alternative to the industrial food system, which contributes to increasing intensity, chemical pesticides, mineral fertilizers, antibiotics and GMOs based, agriculture, and in which buyers have lost their links with the true food producer – the farmer. There are various types of direct purchase. Customers with farmers agree on a specific type of direct purchase, which is the most advantageous for both parties.
Anna Rancāne
Autores photo