Background and Overview
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) partnered with Emory University and Arizona State University to research the varied structures of farmers market organizations to identify benefits, challenges, and services associated with externally managed farmers markets. The goal of the “Analyzing the Impacts of Farmers Markets Managed by Organizations” cooperative research agreement was to increase the general public’s understanding of the diverse forms that farmers markets in the United States take and the breadth of their activities. The project was conducted over two years (October 2022 to September 2024) and used mixed methods (an online environmental scan, listening sessions, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews) to explore the structures, activities, impacts and trends shaping farmers market organizations.
Key Takeaways
- The intent of this project is 1) to better understand the range of strategies through which farmers markets run by organizations seek to support their vendors and 2) begin to understand how these strategies affect producers’ direct-market experiences in positive and negative ways. A large proportion of farmers market organizations are registered as non-profit organizations at the state and/or federal level. This structure eases market organizations’ ability to solicit donations and apply for grants, important avenues for supporting organizations’ work.
- Farmers market organizations dedicate resources to supporting a wide range of activities beyond coordinating market day logistics.
- Market operators preferred growing their markets through activities like increasing attendance or nutrition incentive redemption over expanding the number of farmers market locations or increasing market hours. This suggests that the sector should not be evaluated primarily by the extent to which the number of markets is expanding, but rather additional metrics that capture the diverse ways market operators grow their impact.
Farmers Market Organizations are More than Markets - Executive Summary
To learn more about this research, explore the final report and the five research briefs by visiting Arizona State University’s KEEP library.
Publication Date
May 2025