Farm families in the Commonwealth are being celebrated this week as Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles invites Kentuckians to enjoy Kentucky Farmers’ Markets Week and the products found there.
Quarles says Farmers’ markets provide the freshest and healthiest foods direct from Kentucky’s farms. He added that Farmer’s markets remain a vital resource to provide a direct pathway for farm fresh foods for consumers. He invites all Kentuckians to stop by and see what your agriculture neighbors have to share, adding that “you won’t be disappointed.”
According to the Ag Commissioner, this year’s Farmers’ Markets Week, August 6-12, salutes 170 farmers’ markets in 115 Kentucky counties. In those 170 markets, more than 2,400 vendors offer products for sale, including farm-fresh produce, meats, eggs, and much more available at Kentucky Proud farmers’ markets across the commonwealth.
Quarles reports the popularity of farmers’ markets continue to grow. Since 1994, he says the number of farmers’ markets in the United States has increased from 2,000 to more than 8,600. A recent University of California, Davis study reportedly discovered, “for every dollar of sales, direct marketers (Kentucky’s farm families) are generating twice as much economic activity within the region.
With reported sales across Kentucky of more than $15 million last year, Quarles says farmers’ markets are an economic engine that celebrates the state’s agriculture roots and brings the farm to Kentucky’s consumers.
The Caldwell County Farmers’ Market is open on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. until Noon in the parking lot of Caldwell County Farm Bureau on U.S. 62 West in Princeton.
