The Compleat List of
FARMERS' MARKET RESOURCES
Many of these pages are located at MFFM.org.
Pages located at external websites are indicated by the “” icon,
and will open a new tab in your browser.

Associations outside Maine.
Farm Labor
Issues that arise in Farmers' Markets
Looking for New Members?
Promotion of Farmers' Markets
Rules and By-Laws of Farmers' Markets
Websites of Maine Farmers' Market
Insurance
Meetings
Laws, Regulations & Permits
Local Food
Publications about farmers' markets
Scales
WIC Checks

Know of some resources I missed? Tell me!

• Markets in 2012 How should farmers' markets respond to more and more farmers wanting to join? (2003)
• Treasurer's Template
• A Market In Your Town?
• Setting Up at Farmers' Market
• Starting a Farmers' Market
• Farmers' Markets Info for Farmers
• ATTRA's Farmers' Market Marketing & Business Guide
• Starting A Market (pdf) Excellent twenty-two page "Organizer's Field Manual" from the Kansas Rural Center.
• Selling Outdoors addresses many farmers' market issues from the angle of how to think about them, rather than providing definite answers.
• "When Things Don't Work: an Insight into Why Some Farmers' Market Close" by Garry Stevenson, Larry Lev and Linda Brewer, Oregon State U. Extension Service, 2006. [28 page pdf file.] This paper was excerpted in an article in the March/April 2008 issue of Farmers' Markets Today magazine, page 30.
• Rebuttal to "When things don't work..." by Tom Roberts, March 2008.
• Limiting Market Membership. Are there good reasons that a farmers' market should limit the number or types of members? Also see Selling Outdoors for a discussion of this subject.
• Dependent vs. Independent Markets. Is your market self-organized and self-managed, or does it have a "sponsor" who takes care of all that?
• The No Show Rule. What to do about people who join a farmers' market but never show up?
• Get the spelling right! Learn how to use an apostrophe.
• “Selling At Markets” by Nina Planck (pdf). Nina and her folks have attended farmers' markets in the Washington, D.C., and London, England, areas for decades. Here she covers many areas of what makes a good market and good marketers.
• Manage My Market offers web-based software to handle most of your market's paperwork. At $13/member, it's rather pricey, but can save a lot of time and produce the reports you've wanted.
• Item Eligibility List From the Orono Farmers' Market, a work in progress of a document to define what the production criteria should be for food being sold at the market.

• Write an email to Melissa White at MOFGA and she'll post your info at the MOFGA.org website about new markets starting up or existing markets looking for new members.

• Post your info at Maine Farmers Market Group at EatMaineFoods.org. You can read anything there, but you have to join EatMaineFoods.org to post your info. It's free!

• MOFGA.net is a MOFGA-operated website opened in early 2010 which allows markets to post classified ads looking for new members. To post, join/login first.

• MEAgTrader.com is an EPA-funded website opened in early 2010 which allows markets to post classified ads looking for new members. To post, join/login first.

• Farmers' Market Ads we'd like to see. These ads were used in the late 1990's by the Fairfield Farmers' Market.

• Promotional Ideas

• Farmers' Market slogans

• Seasonal Availability Chart (PDF)

• Many Maine farmers markets have begun to create a Facebook pages or group for their market.
  • Bath Farmers' Market
  • Belfast Farmers' Market
  • Bridgton Farmers' Market
  • Camden Farmers' Market
  • Damariscotta Farmers' Market
  • Machias Farmers' Market
  • Orono Farmers' Market
  • Portland Farmers' Market
  • Rockland Farmers' Market
  • Scarborough Farmers' Market
  • Skowhegan Farmers' Market
  • Waterville Farmers' Market

• Sticky Economy Evaluation Device A website that walks you through the steps of taking a survey at your market, then generates reports with the data.

• Maine Farmers' Market Convention is sponsored annually by the Washington Hancock Community Agency. Includes Convention schedule and archives from past conventions.

• EBT Guidelines (.doc 571 Kb) from the ME Dept of Ag. Electronic Benefits Transfer cards are similar to credit or debit cards.

• Well done promotional logos of and about farmers' markets. Beautiful graphics and great slogans. Graphics intensive page!

• Many markets have begun to use email newsletters to communicate with their members.

• Robert's Rules of Order:
  • The official Robert's Rules of Order website , including an excellent FAQ, history of Robert's Rules, and an option to purchase the paperback at $6.95.
  • Wikipedia page on Robert's Rules of Order. Good short history and some links.
• Meetings, some other considerations beyond parliamentary procedure.

• Maine Farmers' Market Law, original 1993 version.
  • The current version of this law can be found at the Maine Legislature's list of Maine statutes at http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/7/title7sec415.html .
  • The 2010 revision to the law is in the bill LD1586 summary , which shows the updated progress on the bill.
  • The original wording of LD1586 (the bill to modify the law) when it was introduced in December, 2009, and lots of other information about the bill can be found here .
  • Draft version of new farmers' market law (pdf) as reported out of the Ag committee to the full House on 17-Feb-10.

• List of all Maine Dept. of Ag. regulations (Feb 2010)

• A list of Maine statutes relating to selling agricultural products is available at http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/7/title7ch101sec0.html which is at the Maine legislature's website of Maine statutes.

• Another site which is somewhat easier to access is the Maine Department of Agriculture's site on Statutes and Rules which has links to the same statutes, but organized a bit differently.

• For a list of printable permits go to http://www.state.me.us/agriculture/qar/permits.html to find permits in .pdf format.

• GetRealGetMaine.com The Maine Dept of Ag's website for promoting agricultural commodities. This is also where their list of Maine farmers' markets is maintained.

• Maine Dept. of Ag's Farm Stands & Farmers' Markets Mobile Vendor Guidelines (pdf 122k) or the same Guidelines in doc format. This document answers most questions markets have about who needs a license to sell and who doesn't, and what various display and storage requirements are. (Feb-2010)

• Maine Dept Agriculture home page.

• The Maine Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry , also known as ”the Ag Comittee”, is made up of about a dozen members from the Maine House and Maine Senate. They are the folks who review/revise any Ag-based legislation before it goes to the whole legislature. Includes contact info.

• Find your elected officials here . A good resource if you want to write to your legislator or congressperson.

• List of Farm Family Insurance Agents direct from www.FarmFamily.com

• An Insurance Question

• Campbell Risk Management in Ohio has recently developed insurance policies specifically written for farmers' markets and farmers' market members. Underwritten by The Hartford.

• Farmers' Markets Today magazine about farmers' markets.

• Growing For Market National monthly magazine published by a farmer for direct market farmers. They have a good list of books at their online store.

• USDA's Farmers' Market Facts

• Maine Farmers' Markets List maintained by the ME Dept. of Ag at GetReatMaine.com

• Open Air-Market Net , "the World Wide Guide to Farmers' Markets, Street Markets, Flea Markets and Street Vendors". A nice site with lots of links to markets and market resources.

• NY Farmers' Market Training Manual [5Mb pdf file]. An excellent comprehensive manual from the New York Farmers' Markets for anyone interested in operating a farmers' market. Only a small portion is specific to New York State.

• The Turkey Farm has a good article in their Summer 2002 edition of The Turkey Times newsletter on An easier way to food security . It's about half way down the page, and talks about how small local farms make for better food security than large distant farms.
  
  
• Local Food is fully discussed pro and con at the U.K.-based Reference.com article on local food, and they also have a great page on Farmers' Markets . It is intriguing to see how many of their concerns are the same as those on this side of the pond.
  
  
• Seasonal Chef interview with Alice Waters .
  
  
• In Search of Food Security from the SeasonalChef.com .
  
  
• Six principles of food security
  
  
• Cultivating Community (pdf) by Jo Barrett of King Hill Farm in Penobscot. Witeen as a presentation to a civic group, it described the many civic values that small farms generate.
  
  
• Food Routes is “a national non-profit dedicated to reintroducing Americans to their food, the seeds it grows from, the farmers who produce it, and the routes that carry it from the fields to our tables.” Includes a vast list of links relating to local food.

A good set of hanging scales can be hard to find. Some of the best brands are Chatillon and Detecto, but there are others. However Hanson seems to make no hanging scales that are legal for trade, so although they are less money, they are not able to legally be used at market.

Two websites where scales can be purchased online are www.scalesgalore.com in Brooklyn, NY which carries a wide range of scales of all brands and types; and Ohio-based www.chatillon.com which is the actual manufacturer of the most popular hanging scales for farmers' markets. From either site, the model 0723TG, rated "legal for trade", runs about $215 to $230 with galvanized pan. Shipping is about $8.00. It has temperature-compensated springs, which means your mess of beet greens will weigh as much in June as in October.

Another useful company is ULine.com which has several scales available as well as traffic cones and packaging materials such as mesh onion bags, and a wide selection of plastic bags. Their catalog is ¾ inch thick.

Each of these sites also has portable digital scales, and more other types of scales than I knew existed. You can enter "scales" and your favorite brand name into any search engine to find more websites offering scales online.

The Maine Department of Human Services and the Maine Department of Agriculture cooperate to sponsor the Maine WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. Using federal funding, these special WIC checks are given to folks who already qualify for the regular WIC checks, which are redemable in stores for specified products. The Farmers' Market WIC Checks will begin to be issued in May this year.

Farmer's Market WIC Checks are spendable only at farmers' markets and farm stands and can be used only for fresh, unprocessed fruits, vegetables and herbs. They come in denominations of $5 and, like a personal check, they get signed by the user when the purchase is made. The farmer then deposits them like a regular check after stamping them with a unique number issued to each farmer by the WIC program.

For all the details of the program, go to www.WICforME.com/farmers.htm or call 800- 437-9300 and ask for Dawn Mulcahey. There is no deadline during the year for joining.

• Organic Volunteers is a website where workers looking for a farm, or farmers looking for workers, can add their information. The site can be searched by many criteria.

• MOFGA's apprentice program annually attracts hundreds of people looking to work on small farms.

• MOFGA.net is a MOFGA-operated website opened in 2010 which allows farms to post classified ads looking for farm help.

• MEAgTrader.com is an EPA-funded website opened in 2010 which allows farms to post classified ads looking for farm help.

NORTH AMERICA:
North American Farmers' Markets