Farmers Market

The first of September marks the start of Hunger Action Month. More than 13 million households in the United States were uncertain or unable to acquire food at some time during 2021. Through the Feds Feed Families program, we are taking action against hunger by donating canned food, fresh fruits...

It’s eight in the morning, and farmers with hand hoes and buckets have been here for two hours already, weeding and watering their plots before the heat of the day. Over 200 members of the Somali Bantu community of Lewiston, Maine, make the short drive out to Liberation Farms a few times each week...

In early August, Deputy Under Secretary Stacy Dean and I travelled to San Francisco for meetings and events related to the work the USDA Food and Nutrition Service does to support local communities. On August 3, we spent the day visiting programs around the Bay Area that have an impact on addressing...

My mom raised five kids, taught high school chemistry for 15 years and then retired back to the family farm in 1986. Her new life on the farm depended on the Salisbury, MD farmers market where she sold daylilies. The farmers market, just one of 8,000 or more markets listed in USDA’s National Farmers...

Everyday USDA works to develop tools for farmers and ranchers that support their financial success. The USDA Farmers Market on the National Mall is a “living laboratory” for farmers market operations across the country. During our 2017 market season, we tested “VegU-cation” and found that this fruit...

For small food businesses – like Cowbell Kitchen – selling at farmers markets offers opportunities to expand menu offerings and grow their customer base. Cowbell Kitchen founder Cheryl Strasser started in 2012 as a two-person team selling biscuit sandwiches out of a 5x8-food trailer. After selling...

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Although I don’t have the answer, I sure know that I enjoyed seeing both at the USDA Farmers Market last Friday while celebrating National Egg Day. One of the great things about farmers markets across the country is the opportunity to talk to farmers and...

Can you describe your favorite thing about fall? Would it be picking pumpkins, jumping carefree into a pile of crisp leaves, admiring the brilliant riots of color in our national forests and grasslands, eating fall vegetables, or something else entirely? You can celebrate fall in all of these ways...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. What were visitors to USDA’s Farmers Market on Friday, Sept. 30, doing with the iPads they were holding? They certainly...

Since it’s National Pollinator Week, it seemed fitting to express my thanks to farmers Scott and Susan Hill - who run the Hill Farm outside Charlottesville, VA. Earlier, I had the chance to visit their 10-acre property former tobacco farm to see firsthand how hard they are working to grow a variety...