Results from the Local Food Marketing Practices Survey are in!

      Posted On: December 21, 2016

It’s here! The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has released the results from the first ever Local Food Marketing Practices Survey. Farmers markets and local farms suffer from a lack of comprehensive data on their activities, which stymies strategic decision making and growth. As one of multiple efforts to address this issue, the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) worked under the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) to help secure authorization for the Local Food Marketing Survey in the 2014 Farm Bill, and assisted NASS staff directly to develop survey questions.

The survey was administered in all 50 states, and is intended to “produce benchmark statistics on the number of farms that market food directly, the value of these direct sales, and the marketing practices used in conjunction with direct sales.” The first round of the survey found that farmers sold $8.7 billion in food directly to retailers, institutions, local food wholesalers, and consumers. Thirty-five percent of those sales ($3 billion) were directly to consumers at farmers markets, roadside stands, on-farm stores, online sales, or CSAs.

FMC is digging into the survey results now and will follow up soon with state-by-state, farmers market-specific findings. We’ll continue to work with NSAC and state leaders to determine how the analysis of the survey will impact the local food movement. Learn more and download the data for yourself at:

USDA Local Food Marketing Practices Survey Summary
USDA Local Food Marketing Practices Survey Data