Commit to spending $10 at your farmers market

Commit to spending $10 at your farmers market by Robin Shreeves

American Farmland Trust morphs the America’s Favorite Farmers Market contest into the I Love My Farmers Market Celebration by asking shoppers to pledge to shop at local farmers markets.

For the past several years, I’ve told you when the America’s Favorite Farmers Market contest, sponsored by American Farmland Trust, kicked off each season. For their fifth year of celebrating farmers markets, the organization is changing it up and sponsoring the I Love My Farmers Market Celebration in its place.

The goal of the celebration is to put money directly into the pockets of family farmers by having consumers pledge dollars they intend to spend at their local farmers markets. The celebration starts today, May 28 and runs through midnight on September 9. Each pledge someone makes is a promise to spend $10 at a specific local farmers market that week.

After the celebration gets rolling, there will be an up-to-the minute, 100 Most Celebrated Farmers Markets showcased on the I Love My Farmers Market Celebration homepage. Those 100 farmers markets will be the ones that have received the most dollars pledged. When the campaign is over, the final 100 will receive a “special seal that they can put on their outreach materials in the coming years.”

Through the pledges, American Farmland Trust hopes to secure at least $1 million in pledges to support family farmers and local farmers markets nationwide.

If you’re planning on going to the Farmers Market sometime this week, it will only take a moment to pop over to the website and pledge. You can pledge each time you’re planning on going to the market if you wish.