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Alaska Market Beet:
News for and by Alaska's Farmers Market Community!
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Happy National Farmers Market Week!
#FarmersMarketWeek #FarmersMarketsAreEssential #LoveMyMarket
The official USDA National Farmers Market Week Proclamation is here! Thank you to Secretary Vilsack and everyone at USDA for helping us recognize the essential role farmers markets play in the nation's local food systems.
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Happy National Farmers Market Week!
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National Farmers Market Week (NFMW) started Sunday- How are you celebrating? Here are 4 easy ways you can get started celebrating all the reasons #FarmersMarketsAreEssential!
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1. Spread the word! Encourage your community to meet you at market, and use their social media to be a proud and vocal promoter of your farmers market. Find social media tools in our toolkit and visit FMC's Facebook page for a custom NFMW profile frame!
2. Donate and volunteer! Many markets rely on volunteers and donations to operate. Consider using NFMW as an opportunity to recruit volunteers and solicit donations.
3. Get your groove on! Get in the mood for NFMW with farmers market themed tunes! Play them at the market, or at home while making delicious meals with your farmers market goodies. Check out the Spotify playlist here.
4. Stay connected! Follow FMC on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates, and use our official NFMW hashtags: |
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Alaska Farmers Market Association and Alaska Grown foods were represented at the "Campagna Amica Circo Massimo Farmers Market" in Italy, as part of the WORLD FARMERS MARKETS COALITION launch at the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021 last week!
Click here for the full story and photos.
Happy #FarmersMarketWeek!
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ALASKA FARMERS MARKET WEEK
August 1st-7th, 2021
EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION
by Governor Mike Dunleavy of Alaska
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Click the image below, or here to read the full proclamation!
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 OPPORTUNITY:
Farmer's Markets on AK Ag Day at the Fair: August 29th
The Division of Agriculture is sponsoring Alaska Agriculture Day on Sunday, August 29th at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. As part of the day’s activities, the Division will be hosting farmer’s markets inside the fair’s gate entrances! Alaska Grown members are invited to register now to be a part of the farmer’s markets. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your product, significantly increase exposure for your business and the farmer’s market you currently sell at, and encourage consumers to buy Alaska Grown! The fair anticipates attendance for this day to be between 8,000- 10,000 people! Click here for the registration link
- In order to accommodate as many vendors as possible, the Division will be scheduling each vendor for approximately two hours. Additional time may be available depending on amount of participation. The Division will prepare a brochure for the farmer’s markets with the schedule of vendors for the day which will be available to hand out to the public at each of the markets as well as the gate entrance. The brochure will inform fair attendees which vendors and products will be available, including location and time, and encourage them to revisit the markets throughout the day. The deadline for registering is Monday, August 16th, 2021Registration is required for farmer’s market vendors that are interested in participating.
- The Alaska State fair will provide a 10’ X 20’ space at the red gate, a 10’ X 20’ space at the yellow gate, and two 10’ X 10’ spaces at the purple gate on grass for us to conduct the farmer’s markets. Each vendor will have approximately 4’ to 8’ of table space (depending on the number of registrants) to display and sell their products.
- The Division will provide tents, tables, and chairs for the farmer’s markets as well as limited storage for temperature stable products. Vendors who bring products that require refrigeration or freezing will need to bring their own generator for power and their own refrigeration or freezer unit.
- For vendors that are traveling to the state fair from outside of the Matanuska Susitna Valley or Municipality of Anchorage, partial reimbursement for the cost of travel and shipping of product may be available in the form of a mini-grant, funded by USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant program. The vendor must be a specialty crop producer and there will be reporting requirements on sales to meet the grant’s aims. More information on qualifications and stipulations can be provided to those who are interested in utilizing these funds on request.
For questions or more information on this event, please contact Amanda Swanson at (907) 761-3869 or amanda.swanson@alaska.gov with farmers markets in the subject line.
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There's Still Time to Plan Your Celebration!
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We know many markets are ready to celebrate, but if you haven't found time to start planning yet, don't worry! There are still plenty of things you can do to join in the fun.
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| From social media, to advocacy, to community outreach, our NFMW Toolkit has you covered!
Our toolkit includes ready-to-post social media content to make promoting NFMW super easy. Just copy, paste, and share.
It also includes email, op-ed, and press release templates you can use to connect with local media, partners, and patrons as early as today. Just copy, paste, customize, and send.
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| National Farmers Market Week is a chance to showcase all the ways farmers markets (especially YOUR market) are essential to communities, so don't miss this opportunity. Download the NFMW Toolkit today and get all the tools you need to make this celebration the best one yet. |
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PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR MARKETS' FARMERS!
Every five years the USDA conducts a Census of Agriculture and attempt to interview every farm operation in the United States. They are preparing for the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Can you please share with your group and remind the farmers to make sure their farm is counted?
Sign up today for the 2022 Census of Agriculture to make sure your farm or ranch gets counted: agcounts.usda.gov/getcounted
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Graphics to save and share:
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