Market Manager FAQs Now Available in Printable PDF

      Posted On: February 14, 2011

Last August, the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) launched a new Frequently Asked Questions tool on its website, integrated with the Farmers Market Resource Library.  Since its release there have been over 4,300 visitors to the page, and visitors spent an average of more than four minutes on the page, nearly twice as long as the average visit to other parts of the FMC web site.  The FAQs represent the combined efforts of the Farmers Market Coalition and the Wallace Center at Winrock International, supported by the USDA Risk Management Agency.

Recently, FMC and the Wallace Center developed the Market Manager’s FAQ as a PDF, giving  market managers more flexibility to use and share this relevant content.  It is an especially great tool for meetings, workshops, or other market manager training events.  The PDF, like the web site version, is broken down into seven categories:

Getting started with the Market Fundamentals category, prospective market operators can find answers to some of the basic first questions such as “What makes a good market location?” and “What kind of governance structure do we need?” The Market Policies category walks markets through the basics of  establishing policies in line with their mission and tackle tough questions like “How many vendors should we allow at the market, and how should we select them?” Along the way, visitors are directed to resources from the Resource Library, and videos of some market managers around the country talking about how they select vendors, establish and enforce policies, keep good volunteers, evaluate and communicate their impacts, and participate in federal nutrition programs.

Famers Market Coalition requests that visitors to the FAQs, Resource Library, and YouTube Channel please share favorites with friends and colleagues, and send suggestions for future improvements.  Though the FAQ is just another free service available to the farmers market community on the FMC web site, the ability to develop, maintain, and update it depends on member support.  Farmers market managers, farmers, agencies, organizations, and advocates can learn more about supporting a national farmers market movement through FMC  membership at farmersmarketcoalition.org/membership/levels.