Join the Food Revolution and Vote for Your Favorite Farmers’ Market

This is National Farmers Market Week … a time to celebrate the colorful and flavorful bounty of fresh produce that is so important to a healthy diet. This week there is wonderful news to celebrate because today the USDA just announced that farmers markets have grown 16% in the last year to 6,132 markets nationwide. But for many Americans, access to a balanced and nutritious diet is limited by a host of political and economic factors – from food deserts to farmland conversion.

In June, two important publications were released to help promote the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) in farmers markets. The Farmers Market Coalition and Community Food Security Coalition’s Real Food, Real Choices: Connecting SNAP Recipients with Farmers Markets examines the need for improved access to farmers markets in underserved communities and outlines a “Roadmap for Change.” A complementary guide resulting from a joint project by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA Food and Nutrition Service and Project for Public Spaces, Inc., Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at Farmers Markets: A How to Handbook, provides a comprehensive guide for farmers markets to serve more members of their communities.

I am very hopeful about how people and communities are embracing local farms and farmers markets resulting in the impressive growth of markets across the country. I am also excited about the role of several key organizations who are supporting farmers markets with staff

and resources, such as the Farmers Market Coalition and the Wallace Center at Winrock International, who just released a new YouTube channel and Farmers Market Manager and Organizer FAQ to answer key questions about how to start a farmers market and expand access to markets.  While the farmers market movement is growing by leaps and bounds, it is constrained by policy barriers at levels of government.  One way to push back is to vote with your fork by supporting local farms and farmers in farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture (CSA)s, U-pick and other direct markets, and by demanding healthier food in school lunch programs and college cafeterias. But it’s also important to get involved with your community to make sure your city or town is “farm friendly”, and to fight for policies at the state and at the federal levels. Right now two pieces of legislation are pending that improve access to healthy food: the Child Nutrition Act and the Greening Food Deserts Act and the First Lady has taken a strong leadership role with her Let’s Move campaign.

But we can’t bring about our vision of healthy farms, healthy food and healthy communities without saving the land that sustains us. USDA estimates that we don’t grow enough fruits and vegetables in this country to ensure a healthy diet for all Americans – a situation exacerbated by the fact that the vast number of our fruits and nuts (91%) and vegetables and melons (78%) are grown in urban-influenced areas in the path of development. They estimate we need another 13 million acres of fruit and vegetable production to meet the nation’s minimum daily dietary requirements with domestic production.

This summer, American Farmland Trust is celebrating the role that farmers markets play in supporting the farms and farmland necessary to grow healthy local food. You can support the food revolution – voting not only with your fork but also with your vote in America’s Favorite Farmers Markets™ contest.

About the Author: Julia Freedgood is Managing Director for Farmland and Communities at American Farmland Trust.