With 8,268 listings in the National Farmers Markets Directory, USDA is creating three new directories for local food marketing. The new catalogs will cover Community Supported Agriculture projects, food hubs and on-farm markets and will be available here. “These new directories will be available online early in 2015, giving potential customers, business partners, and community planners easy, one-stop access to the most current information about different sources of local foods,” said USDA.
The number of farmers markets grew by 76 percent since 2008, according to USDA’s count, with the greatest increase over the past year seen in the South. The five states with the most markets California with 764, New York 638, Michigan 339, Ohio 311 and Illinois 309. The new issue of Amber Waves magazine from USDA has an article about the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, “a relatively young food and nutrition assistance program that began with a pilot program in 2001.” It provides coupons, typically $29-$50 a year, to lower-income elderly people to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and other local foods at farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and CSAs.