One of the most challenging aspects of running a market can be defining and enforcing a producer-only market policy. This winter, FMC dove into the often murky and controversial waters of producer-only market enforcement on behalf of its market managing readers in search of the answers to a few frequently asked questions: What does it mean to be a producer-only market? Should producer-only markets be advertised as such? What problems can a producer-only market expect to encounter? And lastly——are there any good solutions to these problems?

Tags: enforcement, market policy, producer only.

Obtaining 501(c)(3) exemption status from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may be one of the most effective ways to open doors for your farmers market— 501(c)(3) status holders have been known to wax poetic about how their exemption has increased their credibility and widened their access to funding from foundations and federal grants. However, as useful as 501(c)(3) status may be, there is no doubt that obtaining it can also be one of the most frustrating and challenging pursuits undertaken by farmers market managers and board members. Here, the Farmers Market Coalition answers a few of its most frequently asked questions about farmers markets and 501(c)(3) status.

Tags: 501c3, tax.

This winter, the Farmers Market Coalition awarded mini-grants of $500 each to support educational events for farmers market managers and producers in early 2010. Take a look at our nine very deserving grant recipients, and the unique events their awards will support:

Tags: education, events, mini-grant, mini-grants.

In September 2009, the USDA launched Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food: a USDA-wide effort to better connect consumers with sustainable local producers and spark a nationwide conversation about the importance of understanding where food comes from. Since then, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced Farm-to-School tactical teams that will tour American schools to evaluate how they might transition to purchasing local food, awarded $4.8 million to community food projects, and held a Facebook chat to expand conversation on local food systems.

Tags: KYF2.

The Farmers Market Promotion Program will have approximately $5 million in funding available in 2010 to encourage and support the viability of farmers markets and direct marketing projects nationwide, with a particular emphasis on those projects that will help increase low-income consumers’ access to fresh, local fruits and vegetables through the use of electronic benefit transfers (EBT). A request for applications, according to USDA AMS, should be posted in January or February.

Tags: FMPP.

In September, the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) joined forces with the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) to start work on the Farmers Market SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Research Project. This project was funded by the Convergence Partnership. The purpose of the research is to develop policy and program implementation recommendations for expanding SNAP usage in farmers markets nationwide.

Tags: CFSC, research, SNAP.

The Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), created by the 2008 Farm Bill, supports pilot projects that help the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) evaluate the use of healthy food-purchasing incentives in its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This program will work mainly with retailers, but there may also be interest at the state level to incorporate pilot farmers markets.

Tags: healthy incentives, USDA.

The Farmers Market Coalition board of directors has scheduled the 2010 member meeting for 1 p.m. Eastern on March 17th.

Tags: membership.

On January 20th and 21st, a diverse line-up of presenters will converge in Chattanooga, Tennessee to lead a farmers market short course in advance of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group’s (SSAWG) 19th Annual Winter meeting, Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms Conference.

Tags: education and training events, Risk Management Agency, SSAWG, Wallace Center.

In many ways, Amy Cotler’s newest book, The Locavore Way, reads as a love letter to local eating, poetically describing the beauty and necessity of local food—on page 8, for example, she writes: “local food is different because of the way it bonds us to our families and friends, neighborhoods, community, and region, grounding us in what often seems a detached and fragmented world.”

Tags: book review.