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The Colorado Farmers Market Association, the City Heights Open Air & Certified Farmers Market in San Diego, Calif. and Greenmarket in New York City did it with help of the Farmers Market Promotion Program.

The USDA is ready to kick off another season of its outdoor farmers market and it has a star-studded schedule planned for market visitors.  Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan will lead the June 4 opening ceremony of the USDA Farmers Market with the help of celebrity chef Eric Ziebold from the nearby CityZen and Sou’Wester restaurants in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Today, driving out to visit the Castillo farm in Plant City, Florida, Secretary Tom Vilsack and his staff took a moment to stop at a roadside stand selling a wide variety of local produce.

 The USDA National Farmers Market Directory, affectionately called the “farmers market census” has extended its deadline for receiving information about the country’s farmers markets through June 4.  In 2009, the USDA counted over 5,200 operational farmers markets in the country.

Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan challenged members of the Dairy Industry Advisory Committee on Wednesday to look beyond declining prices and seek an answer to the ailing dairy industry that will have a lasting impact.

“I’m asking that you start thinking in long-term solutions,” said Merrigan during a welcome address on day two of the advisory committee meeting. “I’m challenging you to not only be good advisers but good historians.”

A group of 17 men and women that represent the dairy industry met at USDA headquarters on Tuesday for the first time to find a solution to the volatile pricing of milk and milk products that has decreased industry profits and caused many operations to close.

“We need a relatively quick response from this group,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in his opening remarks to the newly-formed Dairy Industry Advisory Committee. “I hope at the end of all of this you can come up with a common solution that you can recommend to us and that we can present to the rest of the industry.”

On an early fall day when the rain refused to pass farmers and producers from the DC-metropolitan region gathered for the opening of the FRESHFARM Market by the White House on Vermont Ave. Federal employees, area workers and out-of-town visitors gathered for the festivities despite the weather and were excited for the new program.

Big plans for small farmers
Warriors in the battle for more local, sustainable food have long been suspicious of the Department of Agriculture and its relationship to large agricultural interests. But even the most dedicated political agrarian has to admit that the USDA is getting local food fever. This week, the top people at the USDA announced they would be handing out almost $65 million to help connect small farmers — especially those using sustainable practices — with people who want to eat local food. The money is part of their new “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” campaign which includes a series of programs to help farmers better market their food and the people who run large institutions buy it. (N.Y. Times Diner’s Journal blog, 9/15)

It was a rainy morning here at the USDA headquarters in Washington DC, but that did not stop the local farm vendors from setting up shop at the weekly USDA Farmer’s Market.