Farmers Market Coalition

We are driven by three complimentary goals. We call it our triple bottom line. Throughout the USA, farmers markets are achieving these goals. Some are doing it better than others. While we too are dazzled by the bigger markets which assemble hundreds of vendors and thousands of shoppers, size is not our only measure of success. Sometimes, it is the smaller farmers market operating in a challenging neighborhood that achieves this triple bottom line.

What does success look like? Farmers earn fair prices for the fruits of their labor by selling directly to consumers. Consumers gain access to healthy, fresh, local produce. And communities? They regain a figurative “town square” back to families, foot traffic and all of the happy and healthy outcomes from animating public space.

Are farmers markets succeeding? Yes, it’s exciting. The reinvention of this tradition has come from so many varied places: Farming communities have taken risks and joined hands with Main Street advocates, “slow” foodies, environmentalists, chefs, new immigrants, and so forth. The very diversity of who has come to invent and at times reinvent farmers markets is a sign of health and progress. This growth has come about despite the massive trends to centralize food production and distribution, despite the obesity epidemic in the USA, and despite the fact that no single funding mechanism exists to spurn their development.

Together, we are the social entrepreneurs who are growing new institutions that serve farmers, consumers, and communities.

1. To bring private and public support to the table to sustain farmers markets in the long term

2. To serve as an information center for farmers markets

3. To foster strong state and regional farmers market associations

4. To develop and provide educational programming and networking opportunities for farmers market managers, farmers, and market sponsors

5. To promote farmers markets to the public