What could be a more fitting fundraiser for a market organization than a dinner featuring local chefs and farm fresh ingredients? Organizing a farm to table dinner or a cultural food festival is a little different than coordinating a farmers market. Kasi Haire of Nolensville Farmers Market in Tennessee assures us that much of the skill set is the same: planning, staffing, renting equipment and marketing. Listen in to hear how and why her market keeps finding new ways to help people do good by ea...
Nov 04, 2024•35 min
Bookkeeping is yet another of the many hats that farmers market managers wear. There are so many formulas for setting space rent at markets and, especially post-Covid, a whole variety of ways to manage calculating and actually collecting those fees. Do you use a market management program with built in invoicing? Are you adding up percentages of sales and handling cash at the market? Either way, there's plenty to consider and to communicate to make sure things run smoothly. Let's talk about: Pros...
Oct 28, 2024•55 min
How do you learn and grow in your farmers market career? We met Jessica Mullen of South Carolina's Travelers Rest Farmers Market when she traveled to San Diego for InTents, the national Farmers Market conference. In this episode of Tent Talk, Jessica shares what she finds valuable about InTents and other conferences and networking with other market professionals. She's all about learning, and also about offering educational opportunities at her market. Listen in for Jessica's tips on: Interactiv...
Oct 21, 2024•47 min
What's new and exciting, and what's comforting and familiar about InTents, the multinational Farmers Market Conference? Join us for a quick look ahead to what's in store in March 2025. What's NEW: 2025 Theme: Speak Up for Farmers Markets! Brand new venue with rooms and meeting spaces under one roof Central location with shops and restaurants and the beach nearby Break out tracks for new and experienced market managers Special sessions for market farmers and vendors What's FAMILIAR: Speed-friendi...
Oct 14, 2024•26 min
While working for a cheese maker at New York City farmers markets, Peter Henry started thinking about ways producers could expand their reach and increase efficiencies. Now, Ten by Ten Logistics serves more than a dozen farmers at markets throughout New York. Peter continues to explore and refine systems of transporting goods to market, managing inventory and using staff based closer to the market than the farm. Listen in to hear what kinds of coordination help farmers sell at more markets and s...
Oct 07, 2024•58 min
It's another Ask the Pros episode this week, with a mix of topics based on listener questions. We always find that discussing one person's question helps others that are pondering some variation of the same thing. If we don't necessarily have THE answer, we have ideas and experience and those might inspire your handy solution. There's nothing quite like the hive mind. This week we're talking about these questions and more: • Where can farmers find online tutorials for building effective marketin...
Sep 30, 2024•40 min
The fourth quarter rolls around every year, but somehow we often forget what to do to prepare for it. Listen in as we chat about moving past the September slump. We're looking forward and making plans to make the upcoming season more productive and less stressful. How are you getting ahead of things? Reminding farmers and vendors that this cycle happens every year Planning ahead for necessary off days Using slow days to experiment with new displays and systems Recognizing that you can do anythin...
Sep 23, 2024•26 min
Managing a farmers market is just like managing a craft fair or fall festival, right? Yes. And no. There are similarities and there are big differences between coordinating vendors on a weekly basis and once a year. When experienced annual event managers Patricia and Brett Keller took over a local farmers market after the sudden departure of its founding manager, they learned a few things. Are you a large scale event coordinator thinking about taking on a farmers market, or a market manager plan...
Sep 16, 2024•41 min
This week we're sharing something a little bit different: a podcast episode where Catt Fields White is the featured guest. Enjoy this conversation from the Fresh Take podcast about the importance of supporting local farmers, small businesses and of course farmers' markets. If Catt doesn't convince you over the next 45 minutes that farmers markets will save the planet, you might want to listen one more time. 😜 Follow along as Catt and Lana over at Fresh Take discuss: The transformative impact of...
Sep 09, 2024•47 min
Market participants are a generous bunch, so how do you make sure your farmers and vendors don't give away the farm, so to speak? Freebies and discounts that are shared with market managers, staff and fellow vendors are fun. Still, some guidelines are important. Gifts from the market to your community's worthy causes are the same. Keeping your heart and your business mind aligned is important to keep your whole market family financially healthy. Join us as we consider: Appreciating generosity wh...
Sep 02, 2024•41 min
When The Food Corridor offered a Shared Kitchen-101 workshop at the 2023 InTents Conference, it was a sell out. It's no wonder. In a survey of food businesses operating out of shared kitchens, farmers markets were the most commonly used sales channels, with over 50% responding that they sell at one or more farmers markets. A shortage of kitchens ultimately means a shortage of food vendors at farmers markets, so many markets are exploring developing their own incubator kitchens. Join us as we cha...
Aug 26, 2024•42 min
Selling farmers market gift certificates are a great way to help dedicated customers introduce friends, relatives and associates to the world of fresher food and local community. Now kick that idea up 350,000 notches. Maine Federation of Farmers Markets proactively sells employers on using market dollars as part of their workplace wellness programs and farmers markets statewide are harvesting a bumper crop of sales and shoppers. Listen in as we discuss that program and other topics including: • ...
Aug 19, 2024•59 min
With election season upon us, managing free speech issues at farmers markets is top of mind. This week we're chatting with Wendy Chen, of the Center for Agricultural and Food Systems at Vermont Law School for a quick update on court decisions that might affect how you manage free speech at your market. And we're spotlighting an episode originally broadcast in 2021, with Lihlani Nelson, also of Vermont Law School, home of the Farmers market Legal Toolkit. Topics today include • Limiting your farm...
Aug 12, 2024•55 min
We know you're busy this week. Us too! Catt's on the road speaking at conferences and visiting Midwest markets. Brijet's rocking National Farmers Market Week in San Diego. You're doing the same, right? So take just a minute and tune in while we chat with Erica Meadows of the Mt Washington Farmers Market in Kentucky. They gained the most votes in America Farmland Trust's 2024 America's Farmers Market Celebration and scored the big prize. We also hear from our friend Sagdrina on Farmers Market Wee...
Aug 05, 2024•32 min
We have a mixed bag of topics in this month's Ask the Pros episode. With hot weather advisories, fires and floods becoming more common, we've been getting a lot of questions about when closing a market is justified. Weather or not, farmers need to move their produce so it's not a decision managers take lightly. We're chatting about that and a variety of other questions from our listeners and our online community today Listen in while we chat about these quandaries and more: • Balancing safety, c...
Jul 29, 2024•44 min
Join us for a report from Catt's trip to the World Farmers Market Coalition's second General Assembly, in Rome, Italy this month. Delegates from some 70 countries and organizations gathered, representing hundreds of farmers markets and policy making bodies. They heard about the international coalition's current projects and contributed to its visions for the future. Maybe most importantly, they shared perspectives, broke bread, and formed and renewed bonds, market operators from a multitude of p...
Jul 22, 2024•43 min
We're about to share so much news about 2025's InTents: the National Farmers Market Conference. Today, we're starting with the announcement that the Request for Proposals opens in just a few days. We're adding a special farmer and vendor track in 2025, so possibilities abound. Are you ready to share your expertise about a topic with market managers or participants from throughout the US, Canada and beyond? Submit that proposal! Do you have a need that you're hoping a speaker or panel will addres...
Jul 15, 2024•52 min
Volunteers are the lifeblood of many farmers markets and we know that even market managers are sometimes labeled as volunteers. That labor of love is admirable. Is it legal? That depends, and it's complicated. Wendy Chen joined us at InTents, the National Farmers Market Conference earlier this year. Her work at the Center for Agricultural and Food Systems at Vermont Law School includes the newest section of the Farmers Market Legal Toolkit, specifically focused on the role of volunteers at farme...
Jul 08, 2024•42 min
It's hard to believe that we've produced 300 episodes of Tent Talk, the farmers market podcast, since we started almost five years ago. You'd think we might run out of things to talk about, but nope! There are so many ideas to explore, questions to ponder, and issues to delve into. We love creating opportunities for market businesses and operations to change and grow. We appreciate the endless number of interesting people doing amazing things that generously share their stories with us and our f...
Jul 01, 2024•37 min
Call it internship, apprenticeship or learning by doing, it's all about training the next generation of farmers, foodmakers and market managers on the job. On this week's episode we talk about how interns can help your market and ways to make those programs beneficial for both sides. A true internship provides education and that takes effort. Determine the best time to establish an internship that works, by considering issues including: Identifying the differences between interns and volunteers ...
Jun 24, 2024•32 min
It's the 25th anniversary of National Farmers Market Week. Get ready to get ready with the Farmers Market Coalition Toolkit, it's available now. Get ahead of the game with early press releases and outreach to your local policy makers. Order your temporary I Love Farmers Market tattoos. Plan a celebration and don't forget to slip in a little education. This is our week to shine. Join us as we chat with Nino Budabin McQuown of FMC about all the best ways to use the week to raise your farmers marke...
Jun 17, 2024•28 min
Juneteenth is coming up, are you ready? With the mid-week holiday coming up, we're seeing observances and events scheduled this coming weekend also the following Saturday and Sunday, June 22nd and 23rd, in addition to June 19th itself. Sagdrina Brown Jalal joined us last year to discuss how to honor that day at our markets. This year we'll be amplifying the collective Juneteenth awareness campaign that Sagdrina is leading for the Farmers Market Coalition. Listen in to our brief conversation abou...
Jun 10, 2024•41 min
We love a good vendor story almost as much as we love Not Your Nonna's nut-free pesto, full of locally grown basil. Adrianna Zizzo operates her pasta sauce business in six farmers markets a week. Her fledgling business weathered pandemic protocols shortly after she launched. This summer her business is celebrating its five year anniversary. Devoted to using locally grown ingredients and no preservatives, Adrianna has built a devoted customer base and an extended market family. Listen in as we ta...
Jun 03, 2024•51 min
It's a celebration, it's a contest, it's two exciting things at once and it kicks off this coming weekend. American Farmland Trust has operated America's Farmers Market Celebration for 16 years now. It offers a great chance to make your market more visible and engage your shoppers. The cash prizes are an added bonus. This year's contest is shorter and maybe a little sweeter than last year's, with some new rules in place. Listen in on our conversation with AFT's David Thayer about all the ways th...
May 27, 2024•40 min
We’re baaaaack! Did you miss us? After our short recording hiatus, listen in to find out where we’ve been and where we’re growing next.🌱 It’s been a busy spring, and we’ve got a lot cookin’ over here. Follow along as we answer burning questions, including: How Catt and Brijet keep it real (hint: still schlepping barricades) The location for 2025's InTents Farmers Market Conference Will the Tent Talk Podcast ever be on video? 👀 How to find grant assistance and other consulting services Where in...
May 20, 2024•42 min
The work you do farming, or bringing small farmers and shoppers together, is vitally important. Brent Preston spoke at InTents: The Farmers Market Conference 2019 about his time as an organic farmer, the effects of farming on the environment and how farmers and consumers can change those. His book The New Farm: Our Ten Years on the Front Lines of the Good Food Revolution , shined a light on the complexity of our food systems. Brent continues to do the good work, on his farm in Southern Ontario, ...
May 13, 2024•39 min
Would you get a chiropractic adjustment or purchase a time share at the grocery store? If you answered no, then why would you expect to find those services at the farmers market? This week on Tent Talk we discuss the pros and cons of hosting service providers and informational/promotional booths at your farmers market. Knife sharpeners, food prep services, masseuses, real estate agents, home cleaning services, and bike mechanics all offer valuable services that your market community may desire. ...
May 06, 2024•25 min
Pirate vendors, aargh! No, we’re not talking about buccaneers that sail the seven seas, we’re talking about sellers and solicitors that set up in or around a farmers market as unofficial vendors. Though usually well-intentioned, hawkers, buskers, petitioners, and street vendors can confuse shoppers about where and when the actual farmers market begins, encroach on sales, and could potentially be a liability for farmers market operators. Tune in for some commiseration and brainstorming about what...
Apr 29, 2024•33 min
Opening a new farmers market or starting a new season at an existing one is exciting. A lot goes into getting ready to launch, and building up to a truly grand opening. Building awareness and anticipation for both the community and your family of farmers and vendors means a busy opening day. Planning for the natural cycles of a new market will keep everyone's enthusiasm and commitment strong. New and established alike, there's no part of farmers markets that just happens. You make it happen and ...
Apr 22, 2024•38 min
Communicating with your farmers market community can take a lot of forms nowadays. Do you send emailed vendor advisories? Use a private Facebook or Instagram group? Smoke signals or carrier pigeons, maybe? One way or another it's important for farmers, vendors and managers that everyone stays in the loop. In this episode Catt and Brijet and Justine are joined by market directors Gina Johnson from Madison, Illinois, and Rebecah Boynton from Nashville, Tennessee. This episode of Tent Talk was orig...
Apr 15, 2024•59 min
