You should check to see if your local farmers market is signed up for the American Farmland Trust, “America’s Favorite Farmers Market” contest. Voting is active. AFT is looking for three top vote getters and is using this contest to promote “the connection between fresh local food and the local farms and farmland that supply it.”
“Farmers markets not only supply the great seasonal foods we love,” says Julia Freedgood, managing director of AFT’s Growing Local initiative, “they give consumers a way to understand where their food is coming from and foster a closer relationship between farmers and communities.”
Freedgood adds that “Farmers markets also provide public health benefits and economic development opportunities.” The most recent USDA Census of Agriculture reported that nearly $1.2 billion stayed in local communities from direct to consumer sales—up 49 percent since 2002. “There’s no question that farmers market are both popular and a positive part of communities.”
The other key point Freedgood makes is whether by providing healthy food, renewable energy or environmental services, agriculture is at the heart of solutions to the nation’s most pressing issues. “One of the reasons we want to spread the word about farmers markets through this promotion is also to raise awareness of a fundamental idea—No Farms, No Food®.”
Farmers markets across the country are still signing up for the contest, and online voting is underway. Consumers can vote to select “America’s Favorite Farmers Markets” at www.farmland.org/vote. At the end of the contest, one large, medium, and small farmers market will be awarded the title and win a shipment of No Farms No Food® tote bags for the winning market managers to distribute to the shoppers that made it happen! Voting remains open until midnight on August 8, and the winners will be announced thereafter.