What is the connection between farmers markets across the country, perhaps your local venue, and USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. AMS’s America Vegas says, first and foremost.
“We don’t regulate farmers markets. We do provide a lot of resources.”
Support includes grant opportunities via the Farmers Market Promotion Program.
“This is a program that farmers markets can apply [to], and it doesn’t have to be farmers markets exclusively. [It] can be any organizations trying to improve direct marketing for farmers, but often, farmers markets are the main entities that apply for these programs.”
There are also resources such as:
“The USDA Local Food Directories. The Farmers Market directory is the main one, we have close to 7,000 listings. The main purpose is to connect consumers with farmers.”
And finally, the USDA conducts research into farmers markets and their connections to local economies.