The School District in Central Texas has joined forces with The Common Market Texas to bring together farmers markets and CSA programs. This collaboration is advantageous for local government, community partners, producers, and consumers alike. It provides a platform for cultural reflection, brings people from different backgrounds together, and offers an opportunity to interact with key stakeholders and community members of all ages. Moreover, farmers markets stimulate local economic activity by encouraging purchases at small businesses and farms, as well as taking shoppers to neighborhoods where they can shop at other stores. These farm-to-school partnerships support Texas farmers by providing them with a crucial outlet during times of major supply chain upheavals.
To celebrate National Agricultural Market Week (August 6 to 1) and to raise awareness of the contributions of agricultural markets to access to healthy food, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has partnered with the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC). This partnership has set out to develop and test campus farmers' markets at three universities with 1890 land grants and plant education programs (VEgU) in three farmers' markets. The Farmers Market Metrics site provides free downloadable templates, as well as information on how to subscribe to data reporting software. The USDA Farmers Market team, the Regional Local Food Division of AMS 26%, and the FMC are currently working with schools in Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, and Kentucky to establish VeGu programs. They have three stands (stalls) to help farmers markets across Texas increase sales of Texas-grown fruits and vegetables to SNAP buyers.
The Texas Local Food Center also appears on the latest episode of Access, the Federal Reserve podcast on community development issues. The website of the Sustainable Food Center (SFC) contains a series of resources on how park and recreational professionals can integrate farmers' market and CSA programs into their community offerings. In partnership with the National Center for Appropriate Technology and Food Basin Investors, SFC provides training on wholesale preparation and technical assistance to small farmers and ranchers. According to McDonald, the Texas Farmers Market has an average of around 3,000 shoppers in Cedar Park and 4,000 in Austin per market day. The number of buyers is beginning to increase for local communities regardless of the organizational structure. The SFC food supplier meeting in Central Texas successfully brought together institutional buyers and wholesale distributors to discuss the specific local products that schools were interested in purchasing and address barriers that hindered local procurement. The commercial structures of farmers' markets range from private for-profit organizations and private social enterprises to markets managed by municipal or county governments.
These partnerships between farmers markets and schools in Central Texas are beneficial for all involved parties. The advantages of these collaborations are numerous. They provide a space for cultural reflection, bring people from diverse backgrounds together, offer an opportunity to interact with key stakeholders and community members of all ages, stimulate local economic activity by encouraging purchases at small businesses and farms, support Texas farmers by providing them with an important outlet during times of major supply chain upheavals, increase awareness of the contributions of agricultural markets to access to healthy food, develop campus farmers' markets at universities with 1890 land grants and plant education programs (VEgU), help farmers markets across Texas increase sales of Texas-grown fruits and vegetables to SNAP buyers, integrate farmers' market and CSA programs into their community offerings through training on wholesale preparation and technical assistance to small farmers and ranchers, as well as bring together institutional buyers and wholesale distributors. These partnerships between farmers markets and schools in Central Texas are beneficial for all involved parties.
