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Often organized as grassroots, nonprofit organizations, many farmers' markets serve as strategic venues linking producers and consumers of local food while fulfilling multiple social, economic, and environmental objectives. This article examines the potential of farmers' markets to play a catalyst role in linking local food systems to the social economy in western Canada. We used the Delphi method of inquiry to solicit and synthesize perspectives on the future role of farmers' markets within local food systems and the social economy from farmers' market vendors, market managers, and policy and government representatives in each province. We found that negotiations over the definition of local food systems, the dynamics of supply and demand relationships, and perceptions of "authenticity" affect the positionality of farmers' markets in relation to other marketing channels within regional food systems. Stakeholders engaged in this Delphi inquiry strategized ways to scale up local food systems beyond current limits while also maintaining the "authentic experience" offered by farmers' markets that has helped to fuel increased consumer interest, demand, and growth. Results confirm the need for further investigation of the relationship between the social economy, infrastructure, and authenticity in the development of local food systems. * We would like to thank Emily Huddart Kennedy, Melisa Zapisocky, Paul Cabaj, and Herb Barbolet for research assistance and Al Cook, Gerardo Otero, Sean Connelly, and the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts.

In the mid-to late 1990s, most provincial governments in Canada downloaded or devolved authority for land use planning to local levels of government. In Alberta, this shifted responsibility for the protection of farmland to municipalities. However, a strong oil and gas economy and rapid growth of Alberta's urban centers in recent decades has resulted in significant loss of prime farmland to urban and industrial development. In Edmonton, Alberta's capital city, citizens' concerns over food security and the protection of farmland within city boundaries shaped the 2010 municipal development plan, which links land use planning with food and agriculture, and also paved the way for an Edmonton agri-food strategy. In this exploratory case study we examine factors shaping Edmonton's food policy development and implementation, and the impact on prime farmland in the city's outer limits. Despite progressive changes in policy due to strong citizen support, municipal council's approval of a food and agriculture strategy lacking hard targets subsequently set the stage for continued urban sprawl and loss of prime farmland. This study illuminates the conflicts between

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