This week’s celebration of farmers markets week (August 7 -13) is a good reason for you to come to market. The Farmers Market Coalition reminds you that farmer’s markets are:

• Good for your health
• Good for your community
• Good for the economy

A farmers market operates multiple times per year and is organized for the purpose of facilitating personal connections that create mutual benefits for local farmers, shoppers, and communities. To fulfill that objective, farmers markets define the term local, regularly communicate that definition to the public, and implement rules/guidelines of operation that ensure that the farmers market consists principally of farms selling directly to the public products that the farms have produced.

“The number of farmers markets in the United States grew 17% between 2010 and 2011, to 7,175. The growing number of markets, propelled by a rising interest in local agriculture, has helped farmers markets evolve to become anchors in American communities, putting healthful food on more tables while supporting local agriculture. Farmers markets bolster regional economies, increase access to nutritious foods, and bring communities together through a shared public space.”

More facts about farmers markets

• Approximately 25% of vendors at farmers markets derive their sole source of income from farmers market sales. Several research efforts have revealed that incomes earned by vendors at farmers markets are considerable and are important to their livelihoods.
• The Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans generated $9.8 million in total economic impact in 2010, including $3.2 million in projected gross receipts at neighboring businesses and a contribution of $151,621 to local sales tax revenue.
• The Hunterdon Land Trust Farmers’ Market in New Jersey has an annual regional economic impact of $2,605,173.
• Farmers at the Emporia Farmers Market (KS) paid $36,000 in sales tax between 2003 and 2010, supporting the state’s economy.
• In 2010, participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) redeemed more than $7.4 million in benefits at farmers markets. This represents more than a 70% growth in one year. In the past five years, the number of farmers markets accepting SNAP benefits has increased 263%.
• Research in Vermont, Iowa, New Orleans, and Seattle indicates that, pound-for-pound, many fresh fruits and vegetables are actually less expensive at farmers markets than at grocery stores.
• A 2008 study by the Project for Public Spaces revealed that people who shop at farmers markets have 15-20 social interactions per visit, while they would only have one or two per visit to the grocery store. Because reports show clear correlations between social interaction and health, a farmers market’s role as a social space has important public health implications.
• Markets often give rise to safe and vibrant public spaces. Three decades of surveys and ethnographic research reveal that visitors value the social interaction found in markets.
• Studies of Los Angeles farmers market shoppers reveal that 75% came to market to do more than shop, 55% felt the market increased their connection to community, 99% believed the market improves the health of the community, and 53% believed the market improves perceptions of the neighborhood.