Policy

We believe that public servants design better public policies when they incorporate the knowledge and expertise among practitioners in the field. This is true for farmers markets, where diverse leaders have emerged from unlikely places to create new institutions where none stood before. In other instances, they breathed new life into old farmers markets crying out for renovation.

For too long, public policies have been incubated in silos. Agricultural policies have kept food producers isolated from consumers. Public health policies have been designed without input from farmers. And community development policies have hindered innovation by keeping urban issues separate from rural.

Farmers markets and the constituencies they energize and serve are tearing down these silos. And yet, so many public policies could be improved dramatically to accelerate progressive change.

Representing the farmers market movement, working in tandem with diverse allies, we seek to inform decision makers of public policy alternatives through position papers and policy summits.

Successes of the past — WIC and Seniors/FMNP, the FMPP, SARE, and the Community Food Projects — should be supported and expanded. However, we must also continue to address current challenges (e.g., EBT/Food Stamps) and enable our next generation of public policy innovations.