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Last Sunday, CBS News featured USDA Deputy Secretary Merrigan and discussed how farmers markets are part of a fundamental shift in the way people access their food and interact with their community. And, as the story notes, “… [f]armers markets and other forms of selling straight to customers are...

Last Sunday, CBS News featured USDA Deputy Secretary Merrigan and discussed how farmers markets are part of a fundamental shift in the way people access their food and interact with their community. And, as the story notes, “… [f]armers markets and other forms of selling straight to customers are...

Written b y Rayne Pegg, Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service We are proudly in the middle of the eleventh annual National Farmers Market Week as declared by USDA. This year, Secretary Vilsack marked this important milestone with an official Declaration acknowledging the role farmers markets...

The Department of Agriculture is a big institution, with a $149 billion budget and 114,000 employees. When Secretary Vilsack asked me to spearhead the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative, my first impulse wasn’t to create new programs and authorities, but rather to figure out how better to...

Written by Rayne Pegg, Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service The Secretary of Agriculture has officially declared August 1-7 2010 as National Farmers Market Week. National Farmers Market Week is an opportunity to celebrate the thriving farmers markets in your community. It’s a time to...

The Colorado Farmers Market Association, the City Heights Open Air & Certified Farmers Market in San Diego, Calif. and Greenmarket in New York City did it with help of the Farmers Market Promotion Program.

The USDA is ready to kick off another season of its outdoor farmers market and it has a star-studded schedule planned for market visitors. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan will lead the June 4 opening ceremony of the USDA Farmers Market with the help of celebrity chef Eric Ziebold...

Today, driving out to visit the Castillo farm in Plant City, Florida, Secretary Tom Vilsack and his staff took a moment to stop at a roadside stand selling a wide variety of local produce.

The USDA National Farmers Market Directory, affectionately called the “farmers market census” has extended its deadline for receiving information about the country’s farmers markets through June 4. In 2009, the USDA counted over 5,200 operational farmers markets in the country.

Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan challenged members of the Dairy Industry Advisory Committee on Wednesday to look beyond declining prices and seek an answer to the ailing dairy industry that will have a lasting impact. “I’m asking that you start thinking in long-term solutions,” said Merrigan...