National Farmers Market Network
The Wallace Center has led a multi-year collaborative effort to develop resources for farmers and farmers market managers. These resources are available below for download or print.
In addition, the Wallace Center has partnered with the Farmers Market Coalition to develop the Farmers Market Coalition Resource Library, a robust clearinghouse of tools, resources, presentations and sample documents from markets around the country and the Information Marketplace Professional Development Webinar Series, focused on topics such as Food Safety, Strategic Planning, and EBT/Nutrition Program Outreach.
To learn about new resources from the Wallace Center, sign up for project updates.
resources FOR MARKET MANAGERS
Watch videos and browse resources from the 2010 Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group PreConference, sponsored by the Wallace Center and the Farmers Market Coalition. Hear from representatives from marketumbrella.org, FreshFarm Markets, Asheville City Markets and others, on marketing on a shoestring budget, increasing access to markets, recruiting vendors, measurement tools, and more.
The Wallace Center has continued its partnership with the Farmers Market Coalition to produce a new resource, the Market Management FAQ Series, in celebration of National Farmers Week (August 1-7, 2010). The series includes 50 of the most frequently asked questions about starting a market, strategic planning for markets, staffing and budgeting, growing and promoting markets, increasing access through nutrition programs, and evaluating success. The Market Management FAQ also features a a series of 20 short videos, interviewing market directors and managers from around the country on many of these same issues.
The complete Market Management FAQ series is available at: www.farmersmarketcoalition.org/managerFAQs.
Sneak Peek: Market Manager FAQ Video Series
Click the play button to activate the video screen,
then roll your mouse over the screen to browse the videos.
We’ve created this brief guide to assist you in developing a successful farmers market. It includes useful information about planning, as well as working with farmers and community partners. The guide also shows how other market managers diversify their vendors and their customer bases to build successful markets for the future.
resources for farmers
Selling at a farmer’s market can help farmers increase profitability, but farmers markets do have other challenges. This guide will introduce you to selling at a farmer’s market so you can decide whether it’s right for you.
- Snapshot Series: Transitioning to Value Added Enterprises
The Snapshot Series examines how traditionally direct marketing farmers are using value added enterprises to supplement and expand their agri-businesses, reaching new markets and consumers through the development of new products.
Gaukel Grown and Ground - Keeline, WY
Husband and wife team Kevin and Julie Gaukel supplement income from their livestock business by processing, marketing, and selling stone-ground whole wheat products from their 320 acres of wheat crop. Products include mixes for a variety of breads, pancakes, muffins, and cereal. Their products are now available at their online store, at local farmers markets, and at grocery stores around the country.
Rancho Bella Vista/Darn Hot Peppers - Cobden, IL
The son of farm worker parents, Gerardo “Jerry” Jimenez and his wife Carol use their 20 acre farm in southern Illinois to grow 21 varieties of specialty peppers. Despite limited resources and information on growing specialty pepper crops, with the help of their entire family, Jerry and Carol now sell over
25 value-added pepper products including salsas, jams, jellies, spices, rubs, and sauces. Thanks to a focus on customer education both at farmers markets and online, they’ve grown a strong, loyal customer base—reaching “Chile-heads” around the world.
Stella Cadente - Booneville, CA
Sue Ellery and Tom Hunter, the husband and wife team behind Stella Cadente (which means “shooting star” in Italian), produce oil from 6.5 acres of olives in Boonville, California. In addition to their internationally award-winning extra virgin olive oil, they also produce several varieties of flavored oils, as well as lavender soap. Their products are sold online, in independent specialty stores throughout the United States and Canada, and at self-serve “olive oil bars” in cafés, wineries, and other retail locations.
Sweet Briar Farms - Eugene, OR
Keith Cooper and Petrene Moreland are co-owners of Sweet Briar Farms, a 40 acre hog farm in western Oregon. Priding themselves on all natural, humanely raised pork, Sweet Briar Farms offers a variety of pork cuts, smoked meats, sausages and bacon, as well as a successful line of rubs, spices
and sauces. With a seasonal staff of up to 25, and the help of Keith’s children, Sweet Briar Farms sells at over a dozen farmers markets, online, and on farm, and in the face of increasing demand, is poised to become the biggest provider of naturally raised pork in the Willamette Valley.
Tait Farm Foods - Centre Hall, PA
After a bumper crop of raspberries in 1986, owner and manager Kim Tait and her late husband David Tait experimented with a little known beverage to salvage their crop: shrub. A colonial-era favorite, customers quickly warmed to the product, and its popularity led to a variety of new products using shrub concentrate, including sauces and dressings. From this early innovation, Tait Farm Foods now produces about 50 value added products, including jams, chutneys, vinaigrettes, fruit chocolate sauces, savory sauces, scone and pancake mixes and fl avored oils, in addition to growing 90 varieties of organic fruits and vegetables on 10 acres.
Toigo Orchards - Shippensburg, PA
Toigo Orchards is a 450 acre farm that sits in the fertile Cumberland Valley of south central Pennsylvania, in the rural town of Shippensburg. The Orchard grows various tree fruits, such as cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, pears, and apples, along with berries and melons, and vegetables such as corn and tomatoes. Their value added product line includes apple butter, pear butter, tomato pasta sauces, apple sauce, salsas, honey, canned peaches in bourbon, bloody mary mix, apple cider, jams, and horseradish mustard with honey.
White Cow Dairy - East Otto, NY
White Cow Dairy produces a complete line of small-batch fresh dairy products, including: plain and flavored yogurts (everything from maple to blueberry, mint to rhubarb); yogurt drinks in half a dozen flavors; custards and puddings; sauces; and caramels, among others. Given their unique combination of antique recipes and a small-batch dairy processing system capable of mechanically imitating traditional European and American production methods, the dairy worked with extension services, agriculture specialists and nonprofits to help meet state agricultural standards. White Cow Dairy products are now sold at a number of locations within a 50-mile radius, as well as Murray’s Cheese in New York City.