Community farmers markets (CFM) is a farmers market umbrella organization in atlanta, GA, that develops local food infrastructure for long term sustainability and meaningful community impact

Through our project,"availability, awareness, and affordability: removing barriers to local food access in atlanta," CFM tackles three significant barriers to food access - availability, awareness, and affordability -- through a holistic, four-pronged approach to growing local food systems. The four prongs: local food distribution (farmers markets, public transit markets, the crop cycle, the general store, and POP-UPS),community education and outreach programming, vendor support, and financial incentives (snap match and various incentives detailed below) grow the viability of existing markets and lay the foundation for further establishment and expansion of local food systems. Our project will expand distribution opportunities via both traditional farmers markets and innovative distribution programs; increaseconsumer awareness, attendance, purchasing, and knowledge via marketing efforts, consumer education and community outreach; address affordability for vendors by removing financial barriers via direct financial supports and for consumers through the expansion of incentive programs; and develop local food system ecosystem through vendor support programs, market management support, and consulting services. Through these programs, CFM serves hundreds of local farmers and ranchers, thousands of customers in metro atlanta, and provides sustainable living wage careers. We will leverage our unique position as a local food systems hub to share lessons learned that will promote thriving, holistic approaches to farmers market development and statewide vendor support.