Farmers Market

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: Fresh, nutritious food is a cornerstone of a community’s physical health, but community health is more than physical well-being. A vibrant, healthy community encompasses both the well-being of consumers through improved health, and the well-being of producers...

USDA Farmers Market Directory Counts Nearly 900 Winter Farmers Markets. The tents are up. The vendors are ready, with proud displays of local produce, meats, baked goods, and other delights. Customers are out – shopping, visiting, and mingling. It’s a typical farmers market scene, robust with fresh...

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time at the Crossroads Farmers Market in Takoma Park, Md. The market’s motto is, “Bringing fresh, local, healthy food to individuals of all incomes and backgrounds,” something we consistently support at the USDA. Just last week Crossroads received a $50...

This September we announced the 2010 awards for our Specialty Crop Block Grants (SCBG), a program geared toward increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables by offering grants to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), which administers the...

In the hustle and bustle of working for the WIC program in the Southwest Region, I travel quite often, attending meetings and ensuring logistics much like many of my fellow federal and state co-workers. Recently I had the privilege to attend the Pottawatomie County Farmers Market five-year...

Cross-Posted from the Let's Move! Blog Have you ever wanted fresh, local produce but didn’t know how to find the nearest farmers market? The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) makes it easy with the National Farmers Market search engine, which lists more than 6,100 markets across the nation...

Cross-posted from the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Blog Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Hugh Topper, Group Vice President of Fresh at H-E-B, a regional supermarket based in San Antonio. As a Texan, Hugh is proud of his state and, even more so, his state’s farmers and ranchers. The fact...

What does it take to create a successful farmers market? Just like a potluck, everyone should bring something to the table. A market manager is needed to help coordinate the market place. A selection of vendors offering a variety of regional products is necessary. Also a strong customer base...

Written b y Rayne Pegg, Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service We are proudly in the middle of the eleventh annual National Farmers Market Week as declared by USDA. This year, Secretary Vilsack marked this important milestone with an official Declaration acknowledging the role farmers markets...

Anyone who has shopped at a farmers market can appreciate the freshness of the food, the interaction with farmers, and the opportunity to learn how the food was produced. As an economist with the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), I’m also interested in what local food systems look like in the...