The Marketing Services Division of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) was asked by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Program Leader and ARS’s New England Soil and Water Research Laboratory personnel to help with existing efforts to assist Maine fresh potato...

USDA initiated a pilot study in cooperation with KDA and PAAC that examined the marketing, transportation, and delivery strategies of the catfish processing cooperative. The information gathered should prove useful to many groups involved in this type of enterprise. The study had several...

Throughout the United States, the number of farmers markets continues to rise, their popularity spurred by consumers’ growing demand for locally produced food. More than 4,900 farmers markets operate nationwide today—a jump from fewer than 1,800 only 15 years ago. Because most Federal...

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), in partnership with the Farmers Market Consortium, hosted the National Farmers Market Summit November 7–9, 2007, in Baltimore, MD. The Summit assembled key stakeholders from the farmers market community to convene a national conversation on issues...

Many small and mid-size farm operators compete successfully in today’s agricultural marketplace by supplying specialty farm products. Growing numbers of consumers and commercial buyers are interested in purchasing farm products with specific qualities. These customer preferences may be as...

This report examines the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of eight food value chains to glean practical lessons about how they operate, the challenges they face, and how they take advantage of emerging opportunities for marketing differentiated food products. A focus on the operational...

Seasonal farmers markets remain the predominant market type in the United States. Approximately 88 percent of respondents reported they operated seasonal markets, open, on average, 4.5 months per year. As might be expected, seasonal markets that were open for 6 or fewer months per year attracted...

This report presents an analysis of responses obtained from visitors to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) outdoor farmers market at 12th and Independence Avenue, SW, in Washington, D.C. during two market days, September 10 and 17, 2010. The Rapid Market Assessment, also known as...

The growing retail desire for exclusive and specialized food products offers new marketing opportunities for small and medium-sized food suppliers that understand the new world of food merchandising and are capable of delivering food products that satisfy commercial requirements for quality,...

This report summarizes one of the panel discussions, “Emerging Market Opportunities for Small-scale Producers,” held as part of the August 2008 USDA Fifth Annual Partners Meeting, sponsored by the USDA Office of Outreach. The purpose of the annual event is to support a dialogue between USDA...