Millions Celebrate Markets During 20th Annual National Farmers Market Week

      Posted On: September 3, 2019

Homer Farmers Market in Alaska loved their free NFMW banner! @homerakfarmersmarket

The 20th Annual National Farmers Market Week took place from August 4 to August 10. After some time crunching the numbers, the FMC team is delighted to report that NFMW 2019 was a great success! 

Thank you all for your hard work and participation! We can’t offer enough thanks to our sponsors and partners at USDA, Hodo Foods, Yankee Candle, and Farm Aid that helped make National Farmers Week happen.

National Farmers Market Week serves as a time to highlight the driving points of why farmers markets matter on large and small scales. The week encourages attendance, education, and celebration, but also reminds everyone that support and buying power at farmers markets matters all-year long.

This year, National Farmers Market Week highlighted the important role that farmers markets play in fostering entrepreneurship. By providing a low-barrier to entry, maximum return on investment, and immediate feedback on products, farmers markets serve as an innovation lab for small businesses. Hodo Foods is a perfect example of how farmers markets can stimulate economic growth in local communities and give small vendors an opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive. The company began with one farmers market stand and is now a national plant-based foods brand found in more than 4,000 retail stores across the country.

Markets across the country ran with FMC’s NFMW resources and materials, hosting events and garnering media attention for their vendors. Whether it was on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, market communications or through the media, at-market or around your community, participation was everywhere!

Kennett Square Farmers Market, Pennsylvania @ksqfarmersmarket

• FMC in collaboration with the USDA sent out 15 National Farmers Market Week banners to markets that can be used year after year — they looked fantastic!
• Parkvue, a senior living campus in Sandusky, Ohio, celebrated National Farmer’s Market Week by sampling special goods from local farmers markets with the residents. It was a treat for the residents, as several of them grew up on farms and are familiar with the farming.
• CA Alliance of Farmers’ Markets released a video with celebrity chef Roy Choi at his local farmers market, celebrating the benefits of shopping at certified farmers markets for the community, economy, and environment. 
• Coppell Farmers Market in Coppell, Texas worked with a nutritionist to create four versions of a week’s worth of recipes and correlating market shopping lists. The meal plans, which met differing dietary requirements were free to shoppers to pick up at market.
• Moscow Farmers Market in Moscow, Idaho held a Veggie Shimmy dance party in the main square with staff and volunteers in veggie costumes and fun vegetable cut outs for kids to dance along with!
• A couple of markets set up a station for customers to write thank you notes to their farmers including the Open Air Market at Phoenix Public Market in Phoenix, Arizona, Greenfield Farmers’ Market in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Swarthmore Farmers Market in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

More than 100 markets shared their creative, fun, and inspiring NFMW activities with us as well! If you haven’t shared yours yet, you still can by filling out this form!

National Farmers Market Week By the Numbers 

The USDA Proclamation rang in the week and inspired FMC’s Local Proclamation Template, the likes of which was utilized in advance of NFMW by markets nationwide.

At least seven states officially declared Farmers Market Week as well – that’s twice as many as in 2018! Did your city or state issue a Farmers Market Week Proclamation? Let us know! States declaring National Farmers Market Week included:

• Virginia
• Oregon
• Colorado
• Kentucky
• New Mexico
• Idaho
• Minnesota 

Cities, towns, countries, and municipalities declared Farmers Market Week on a smaller scale too! Some Locally Declared Farmers Market Week Proclamations:

• City of Shalom Springs, Arkansas
• Daviess County, Kentucky
• Montgomery County, MD
• Marin County, California
• Franklin county, Tennessee
• Douglas County, Oregon
• City of Austin, Texas
• Boise, Idaho

Legislative officials came out to their local markets to celebrate NFMW too, including Virgina Gov. Ralph Northam, Kentucky Ag Commissioner Ryan Quarles, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, Rep. Chellie Pingree, Iowa’s Congressman David Young, Utah Commissioner of Agriculture Kerry Gibson, and Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

FMC Farmers Market Resources

One of FMC’s main activities for National Farmers Market Week is to create and provide downloadable tools, templates, graphics, and language for farmers markets to use in their planning and celebration of the week locally. Our goal is to make it easy for markets to promote, celebrate, and activate their communities.

More than 5,000 downloads of NFMW-specific resources

2019 NFMW Toolkit was downloaded 1,252 times

Hashtag Reach on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram:

Kennett Square Farmers Market, Pennsylvania @ksqfarmersmarket

#LoveMyMarket: 1,474 posts, with approximately 2.9 million impressions!

#FarmersMarketWeek: 2,911 posts, with approximately 7.3 million impressions!

The estimated social media reach of National Farmers Market Week related content was more than 13.7 million, with 7,257 mentions of our hashtags or the phrase “National Farmers Market Week.” 

Put Your Money Where Your Farmer Is Infographic was shared over 1,100 times, reaching over 137,500 people on Facebook alone.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone for extending NFMW engagement and reach. Not only does it generate more excitement for farmers market week, it shares the benefits of farmers markets with more people with the goal of creating new and returning customers! It also highlights the reasons farmers markets are important to their communities with local, state, and federal officials, with the goal of gaining their continued and future support.

And just like that, the week has passed, but that doesn’t mean celebrating local food, farmers, and prosperity is over. In the spirit of National Farmers Market Week, make a commitment to shop at your farmers market each week and support farmers throughout the season. Farmers depend on your business to succeed and thrive as entrepreneurs.

If you did something exciting for NFMW or have some thoughts you’d like to share, we want to know! Be sure to fill out our event form and feedback survey.

We can’t wait to celebrate again next year and make National Farmers Market Week 2020 the biggest and best yet. Until next year!

Belmont Farmers’ Market. Massachusetts @belmontfarmersmarket