Farmers Market Metrics Platform is Now Open to FMC Members!

      Posted On: April 18, 2018

Exciting news! FMC’s Farmers Market Metrics data collection platform, which has been under development and testing with a closed group of pilot markets over the past three market seasons, is now open to all FMC members, ready to help you start collecting and sharing data on your market. Farmers Market Metrics was designed to support all farmers markets and market networks, regardless of size and capacity. If you’re looking for a way to improve your market’s operations, refine your marketing strategy, share the impacts of your market, research market trends, improve your FMPP/LFPP grant application, and more, Farmers Market Metrics can help you reach your goals. Read on to learn how!

What is Farmers Market Metrics?

Farmers Market Metrics is a complete data collection, evaluation, and communication website, built for the way market managers work. The Farmers Market Metrics website works with market operations to take data collected from your market – such as sales, visitor counts, surveys, weather, and activities – and transforms it into actionable information you can use to improve your operations, streamline communications with partners, and strengthen your promotions. Learn more about Farmers Market Metrics.

What can it do?

Farmers Market Metrics offers standardized metrics and data collection methods, coupled with automatically generated reports. All analysis and reporting in Farmers Market Metrics aggregates your data in real-time to provide a complete and up-to-date view of your market. The impact reports transform your data into one-page summary reports for promotions and marketing. Markets have the option to share data directly with their chosen Network partners, allowing research partners, state associations, funders and other stakeholders to view, aggregate and analyze data in real time. 

Other features include automated directories that create an online presence for your market and vendors (see example here), dynamic market dashboards, Tableau data visualization, and data exports. Learn more about Farmers Market Metric features.

Who uses Farmers Market Metrics and how does it work?

All FMC members can login to FarmersMarketMetrics.org, using their FMC credentials, where they can create up to five farmers market profiles. For access to the full suite of Metrics data collection and reporting tools, FMC members can upgrade their membership to include a Metrics subscription. There are three types of Farmers Market Metrics accounts, each with different features and options that benefit and support the following users:

Vendors complete a profile to be shared across markets, and can report sales by payment type directly through their account. In instances where vendors are uninterested or unable to engage with the website, market managers can create and manage profiles on behalf of vendors. Data reported back to vendors can be used to improve their businesses, refine their marketing strategies, and more.

Operating Organizations create profiles for each market they manage, assign vendors to those markets, and track and analyze all market data. Operating Organizations are the keepers of the data, and they choose whom to share their data with. Data collected can be viewed in tables and dashboard, exported to Excel for further analysis, or exported as visually engaging reports to share with partners, customers, and vendors.

Networks, including state associations, research institutions, funders or other stakeholders, can be granted view-only access to market-level data, allowing for data aggregation across market organizations. Networks can monitor trends through Tableau-powered dashboards on visitor behavior, vendor participation, sales, and market day programming.

How can Farmers Market Metrics streamline and strengthen your grant proposals and reports?

Part of the development of Farmers Market Metrics was focused on creating easy ways for markets of all capacity levels, including those that are volunteer-led or with minimum staff, to collect, track, and report specific indicators as outlined by the USDA FMPP and LFPP grant applications. Examples of these indicators are increase in sales, increase in visitor counts, and increase in socially disadvantaged vendors.

Metrics allows markets to track and analyze these data points in a single place over the length of your grant project, free from the burdens of lost spreadsheets or inconsistent data collection methods. Even better, markets can automatically share their data to a Network leader, such as a state association, in order to further streamline the communication of progress at the ground level.

Learn more about how Farmers Market Metrics can support your FMPP or LFPP grant.

Does FMC offer training and support?

Farmers Market Metrics subscriptions come with a full suite of resources to empower market managers, including online training and support guides, customizable templates for use at the market, and optional enrollment in monthly Metrics Clinics, where users share successes and consult with FMC staff, peers and industry experts. Every market and Network is at a different point in the data collection process, and has different needs for analysis and training. Farmers Market Metrics users who desire additional assistance can purchase custom webinars or technical assistance packages tailored to their needs.

How do I get started?

Existing FMC members can log in to their FMC account, and purchase an Operating Organization subscription through the FMC metrics store. Having trouble logging in? Read the Log In FAQ here.Learn about the account types, options and pricing at FarmersMarketMetrics.guide.

Non-FMC members can purchase their membership directly from our Membership page.

Networks, including state associations, research institutions, and other stakeholders interested in having a Network account should fill out this form.

Make Farmer Market Metrics go further with Farmspread’s vendor management website!

Farmers Market Metrics has an exclusive partnership and integration with Farmspread, a vendor management website. All market and vendor profiles created or updated in Farmspread will be automatically updated in Farmers Market Metrics. FMC and Farmspread intend to deepen this integration in the coming months, continuing to provide efficiencies to market managers whenever possible. Learn more about Farmspread.

Questions?

Visit FarmersMarketMetrics.guide, or contact FMC’s Metrics Program Manager, Marian Weaver at metrics@farmersmarketcoalition.org or 888-362-8177 ext. 709.

“Data collection is not an end in itself – how you interpret and use the data is what’s relevant.”
Erin Molnar, Countryside Farmers Market at Howe Meadow