Ohio’s first conference for farmers market managers and vendors will be held March 4-5 at the Ohio Department of Agriculture in Reynoldsburg.
The two-day conference will be packed with presentations, displays and networking opportunities and is geared toward farmers market managers, vendors, and community development stakeholders who want to start or grow farmers’ markets in their [...]

The Clintonville Farmers’ Market will be on Saturday, November 21st from 9:00 a.m. until noon. This “Harvest Market Day” is the absolute last day of the Clintonville Farmers’ Market for this year. Those who work downtown can visit Pearl Market. This is their first year doing an indoor winter market.

You can still enjoy great locally produced food direct from the farmer or artisan this winter.  Plan to visit Columbus’ 3 winter farmers markets, there’s one near you – better yet visit all of them!
The winter Pearl Market will be held every Tuesday and Friday from 10:30am-2pm Opens November 3 through February 26 on the [...]

Guide for Opening Farmers’ Markets on Federal Property
The U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service released “Opening a Farmers Market on Federal Property: A Guide for Market Operators and Building Managers” (PDF/262KB). The publication was jointly published by the Urban Development/Good Neighbor Program of General Services Administration, which administers most federal buildings. This publication [...]

EBT and Farmers Markets: Practical Advice from Successful Programs

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM (ET)
This is a free webinar hosted by The Farmers Market Coallition.
Details and Registration

It’s official. The new Ohio Dept. of Ag Cottage food rules were released. The rules now allows for a variety of new foods to be home produced, without the need for an inspected commerical kitchen.  This opens up opportunities for small food producers to expand into new areas with little overhead cost.  It also expands [...]

Local Matter’s Veggie Van will be making the rounds around town with their fresh local veggies in underserved neighborhoods.
See the schedule of Veggie-Van-Sites-Summer-2009 (pdf)

On Wednesday, May 13th the ODA  held the public hearing on expanding the list of “Cottage” foods (see that article). A number of  farmer’s market managers and vendors spoke in support of the rule change. No one spoke in opposition. Several witnesses spoke of the economic benefits of new small businesses that can now start [...]

Many small and new farmers market their products at farmers’ markets.   A sustainable local food system will require more small farmers and more ways for those farms to remain viable by marketing their goods direct to consumers.  We need more farmers’ markets in our communities.
OSU South Centers have a good resource on starting and running [...]

Currently local food consists of a relatively small number of farmers selling direct at farmers markets and via their own CSAs.  While this works well, it has limitations as the demand for good local food grown by small farmers increases.  I would like to explore new creative ways that farmers can sell direct to consumers.
1. [...]