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Federal grant marks big step forward for Lewes Farmers Market

Courtesy: Historic Lewes Farmers Market
The Historic Lewes Farmers Market celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.

The Historic Lewes Farmers Market has received the first major national grant in its 10-year history.

They're getting $99,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to become a "living lab" for studying ways for farmers to market themselves.

"We've worked a lot and we think there's a lot more work to do with our farmers to get them to be better able to promote themselves to the customer, in terms of talking about their product … and to help them broaden what they're selling, too," says market president Helaine Harris.

 

Harris says the market already collects data about its vendors' sales. Now:

 

"What we want to do is use that data and try different things to market the farmers' products better and to see what the results are," she says.

 

Then, they'll share those results with other farmer's markets.

 
The money will also help them expand the products they carry through more of the year, she says, and reach more customers who get SNAP benefits.

Harris says they've processed more food stamps than all other Delaware farmers' markets combined since they started taking them in 2013 -- and she wants to continue that momentum.

The Historic Lewes Farmer's Market recently started its fall hours. It runs Saturdays through late November from 9 a.m. to noon in the Shields Elementary School parking lot.

 

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