We are so excited to celebrate National Farmers Market Week, August 4th-10th, with you!
National Farmers Market Week is an annual celebration of farmers markets proclaimed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and coordinated by the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC), a membership-based nonprofit organization that supports farmers markets nationwide through training, technical assistance, and network-building. Each year, FMC’s National Farmers Market Week Campaign highlights the vital role farmers markets play within our nation’s local food systems.
For more than fifty years, farmers markets have influenced the way Americans eat, shop, and connect to their food, their farmers, and one another. Farmers markets are more than market places, they are places where neighbors learn, grow, and work together. They are there for their communities in times of crisis and celebration and everything in between.
National Farmers Market Week is an occasion to highlight all the ways farmers markets show up for our communities.
For the last few years, we have been accepting SNAP EBT at our market, and thanks to our generous sponsor, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church of Yardley, we are able to match SNAP purchases, dollar for dollar up to $20 per market. Through this effort, we are able to help our neighbors bring more healthy food into their homes and support our local farmers and producers with an additional income source. This effort is truly a win-win!
This year we launched our first ever Kids Market Program. This program is a collaboration between us at YFM, the YMCA of Bucks and Hunterdon Counties, and St. Mary Medical Center, Newtown. In this program, we are working with middle school aged children recruited from the YMCA programs. This 8 week program provides children with $10 in “YFM Market Bucks” to spend at the market on that day. The program is designed to provide children with authority in making food decisions. Research says that when children have a role in the food selection and meal preparation process, they are more likely to consume the foods purchased and prepared. By providing the purchasing power to the child, they will purchase local produce from farmers at the farmers’ market which supports a healthy diet. We are currently working on gathering information from our participants and are excited to learn about the program’s reach and outcomes. St. Mary Medical Center has generously provided funding for this program.
We also continue to support and collaborate with our fellow community groups, like the Yardley Parks and Recreation Board and the Yardley-Makefield Lion’s Club, to improve the health and well-being of our beautiful Yardley community.
What can you do to support farmers markets and celebrate National Farmers Market Week? Shop regularly at Yardley Farmers’ Market and tell your friends to do the same! And local food fans are encouraged to share National Farmers Market Week on social media! Tag us at YFM in your posts to share the bounty of the season on Facebook and Instagram.
See you at the market!
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