The problem with the plan put forward by the Ottawa Farmers Market to take up permanent residence in the Cattle Castle at Lansdowne Park is that it makes no provision for clients already using that facility and other buildings at the site.

Clients such as the Ottawa Valley Farm Show which – and let’s get it out on the table right off the top – I manage. Every March, the OVFS draws hundreds of exhibitors and visitors to Lansdowne where it occupies every inch of inside space.

That privilege costs the Ottawa Valley Seed Growers Association which sponsors the show a pretty penny... make that millions of pennies.

But the OVFS isn’t the only trade show to have carried Lansdowne for decades, the one thing the City of Ottawa could count on along with the Ottawa 67s and the Ottawa Ex to be there through thick and thin, paying the exorbitant rental fees that keep the park alive.

Curiously, in the recent wave of lofty ideas for making the park more chi-chi and Glebe’ish, the Farm Show and other trade shows have been virtually ignored, as if nobody actually remembers they exist.

Made public Sept. 29, the Farmers’ Market proposal is like that. You’d think the farmers who run the thing on Thursday and Sundays at Lansdowne, market gardeners, crafters and bakers or not, would consider the fact there’s a big, bold, recurring agricultural event that uses the park and wants to keep using it until complex alternate arrangements can be made.

Market president Andy Terauds threw out a challenge to make the best use of the site "by giving the public what it unequivocally stated it wanted... a farmers’ market in the heart of the nation’s capital."

The ultimate goal is to locate the market in the Lady Aberdeen Pavilion – otherwise known as the Cattle Castle – on a year-round basis. The market would also occupy the north parking lot "developed into a park setting."

"We’ll do whatever it takes to make that goal a reality," Terauds says.

It’s a plan which presumes the OVFS and other trade shows which use the Aberdeen a total of several weeks a year are going to be run off the property.

That may be true. No productive discussions have been held between Lansdowne and Farm Show management –- me and the board of directors – about the future of trade shows – if any – in a revamped park.

Nor have those behind the Farmers Market asked about Farm Show plans or suggested any cooperative ventures, which might accommodate both interests.

They make a good case and have the backing of Ottawa Councillor Clive Doucet, who has always represented the interests of his Glebe electorate in pushing for low impact use of Lansdowne.

"The Ottawa Farmers Market has led the way in reinforcing today’s move to eat local, eat safe," says Doucet. "The thought of seeing it displaced by condominiums and shops is something I, for one, will not support."

It seems to me the councillor’s current stand represents a turnaround from his previous position which was - correct me if I’m wrong, Clive - condominiums and shops all the way in a reconfigured Lansdowne site.

It’s unfortunate that he couldn’t come out with such a strong statement of support for the OVFS and other trade shows which have been the lifeblood of Lansdowne, as in a redeveloped site should maintain parking and add to existing exhibit space.

Noting that the Farmers Market has grown in three seasons from 20 vendors to more than 100, Councillor Rob Jellet is another supporter of the Castle Cattle takeover. He carries the added clout of being chair of the city’s agricultural and rural advisory committee.

"How many businesses do you know that grow that fast?" Jellet asks. "This has been a success story all the way and has my unqualified support for continued vitality."

And then there’s Paul Mussell, active Osgoode farmer and country comic, past president of the Ottawa Federation of Agriculture, Paul Mussell, friend of the Farm Show, who’s also on board with the Farmers Market plan.

Paul, Paul... yes, it’s true that the market is providing many members of the public with products they want and it has helped some niche producers move "from the red into the black"... but where are we going to put the Farm Show and all of those other big dollar generating annual events?

Paul... this isn’t funny!