Knoxville — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today encouraged Iowans to visit one of Iowa’s more than 220 farmers markets located in communities across the state during Iowa Farmers Market Week/National Farmers Market Week, which runs from August 2nd to the 8th.

 

“August is a great time to visit your local farmers market and enjoy all the fresh foods and local produce, and the Farmers Market Week events just provide added incentive,” Northey said.

 

In conjunction with Farmers Market Week, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will be partnering with 19 markets throughout the state to support their efforts to distribute $1.00 coupons to shoppers at their markets to redeem toward a purchase of locally grown, fresh specialty crop produce. Also, each market will be handing out free, reusable market totes, recipes packets and will host a cooking demonstration or a tasting booth featuring fresh produce available at the market.

 

The funding for this initiative is through the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and is designed to showcase the contributions and importance of farmers markets in the communities and state, as well as Iowa grower’s bountiful production of specialty crop fruits and vegetables available for sale at the market.

 

The goal of this project is to increase consumer awareness, availability of, knowledge and use of specialty crops grown in Iowa and available at farmers markets.

 

The names of the markets and communities participating follows here: Cherokee Area Farmers Market; Clarke Co. Farmers Market (Osceola); Davenport Farmers Market (Mississippi Valley Growers Association); Drake Neighborhood Farmers Market (Des Moines); Highland Park Farmers Market (Des Moines);  Humboldt Farmers Market;  Independence Farmers Market; Knoxville Farmers Market; Lakes Area Farmers Market (Spirit Lake); Lone Tree Farmers Market; Manchester Farmers Market; North Grand Farmers Market (Ames); Oelwein Farmers Market; Oskaloosa Farmers Market; Ottumwa Farmers Market; Rolfe Farmers Market; Spencer Farmers Market; West Burlington Open Air Market; Winneshiek County Farmers Market (Decorah).

 

Northey will be at the Highland Park Farmers Market in Des Moines on Thursday Aug. 6th from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. and will be participating in a demonstration of how easy it is to cook and enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmers market.  In addition, Secretary Northey will be preparing kabobs with beef donated by the Iowa Beef Industry Council.  The Highland Park Farmers Market is located at 6th and Euclid Avenues in Des Moines.

 

“The interest of Iowans in local foods and farmers markets continues to grow, and as a result we have over 220 Farmers Markets in operation across the state this year, up from 184 last year,” Northey said.  “These farmers markets provide residents with direct access to Iowa’s nutritious, affordable and delicious products.”

 

Farmers Markets make an estimated $31.5 million impact on the Iowa economy by giving local producers a place to directly market their goods and bringing business to town centers.  Over 135,000 Iowans shop regularly at their local farmers market during the typical 22 week market season.  88 of Iowa’s 99 counties have markets operating in them.

 

The Iowa Department of Agriculture’s website has a full directory of the markets found across the state to help residents find a market in their area and learn the days and times it operates.  You can search by city or county or look at the complete directory.  To find the directory, simply go to http://idalsdata.org/IowaData/farmersMarket.cfm.

 

Farmers markets are the largest direct to consumer sales venues in Iowa.  The 2007 Census of Agriculture shows the value of agricultural products sold directly to individuals for human consumption rose from 11.6 million to 16.5 million, a 42% increase.