Beginning in April, local farmers markets across the First State will start setting up shop again.
Delaware Department of Agriculture Communications Director Dan Shortridge says Delaware’s growing variety of community markets reflects a national trend.
What we’ve found anecdotally talking to our farmers are that these trends are really being driven by Delaware residents who have become more and more interested in where they get their food from, and increasingly that means ‘going local.’ Either buying directly from a farmer or knowing that the food in their grocery store comes from our local family farms," Shortridge said.
And that trend is bringing in big bucks: last season brought in over $3 million sales, up nearly $400,000 from the previous year. Since 2007, farmers market sales have increased ninefold.
The first to open on April 7th will be the new Garden Shack Farmers Market near Lewes.
Immediately following will be the openings of the Milton Farmers’ Market on April 22nd and the Fresh Friday Farmers’ Market in Wilmington on April 29th.
Twelve other markets will open in May, followed by another eight in June. Nine markets are now offering Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) transactions, allowing families to purchase local produce and food items as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“One really neat thing about our farmers markets here in Delaware is that they’re all community run. The state doesn’t run them, we don’t manage them," Shortridge said. "We don’t own them. We don’t tell them what to do. We stand behind them, But the local decision as far as locations, and which vendors, and diversity of produce is really up to the community.”
