USDA Reports Increase in Number of Farmers Markets
- Topics:
- Local Food
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, 12:12 AM
Maybe you’ve noticed one opening up in your neighborhood, maybe you spent last weekend visiting one. If so, you’d be joining the ranks of the tens of thousands of Americans who now live near farmers markets and get their straight-from-the-farmer food fresh there every week.
Amidst all the bad trends – from climate chaos to financial chaos – it’s great to celebrate a positive trend: The USDA just announced that the number of farmers markets across the country continues to blossom, reaching 4,685 in August 2008, up 6.8 percent from the last official count two years ago. The Department’s Agricultural Marketing Service only started officially tracking farmers markets a little more than a decade ago, and since then the number of markets has jumped by more than 3,000. What that means for you and me is that more and more of us have the chance to directly support our local food economy and get access to the healthiest foods at the same time.
“More and more consumers are discovering the wide array of fresh, locally grown produce available at farmers markets,” said AMS Administrator Lloyd Day.
Over the weekend, I got to meet a founder of one of these farmers markets, Maritza Owens. She started her market in East Harlem fifteen years ago. Back then, it was such a strange thing to be doing – a farmers market in Harlem! “Now, people are flocking to the market,” she told me. Her markets are now part of a broader effort to help improve food access for East Harlem residents, including the Go Green East Harlem cookbook. Guess who’s the cover model?
