Fifty years into the modern local food system, the 8,200 U.S. Farmers market sites remain at its forefront

The Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) was awarded a $761,851.69 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service under the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP) to provide technical assistance resources and capacity building support to farmers markets and state farmers market associations from September 2021 through September 2024.

FMC will develop comprehensive online resources on their website including evaluations tools and software comparisons to assist market operators with data analysis and responding to changing conditions. Webinars will also be prioritized on topics such as choosing evaluation software and measuring equity and vendor impacts. The funding will further increase the capacity of state farmers market associations in Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and Vermont to implement data-driven national farmers market promotion campaigns and develop universal market profiles and location directories for consumers. The overall goal is to help farmers markets and local food systems strengthen their operations and better respond to crises through access to useful market data and technical assistance resources provided by FMC.

During the covid-19 crisis however, thousands of markets struggled to make the case that their operations were essential which was exacerbated by the low capacity of state farmers market associations to assist. Many markets reported lower attendance, while others saw increases but remain unsure if they can retain them. Analyzing what is happening in any season and knowing how to respond and use that information remains a challenge for most market operators. Farmers market coalition (FMC) will build comprehensive, online pages on the FMC website of all available market -level evaluation resources, tool/software comparisons, offer technical assistance, and public data to assist markets and state associations make the case to stakeholders and to increase shoppers and vendors. Webinars on choosing evaluation software, analyzing federal and state grants, measuring equity & vendor impacts and sharing data will be prioritized. The project will increase capacity for state farmers market associations in alaska, colorado, illinois, minnesota, and vermont to add data-driven national farmers market week promotion campaigns to improve the attendance at their markets and to help build and test a universal dataset of up-to-date market profiles and locations for state and national directories and consumer apps to use. Farmers and ranchers will have open access to useful data, consumers will be able to find the outlets that suit their needs, and the sector will be better able to respond to crisis and to opportunity.