The Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass is a digital guide to help stakeholders navigate USDA resources and efforts related to local and regional food systems. It explains USDA’s recent work to create new market opportunities and to use consumer interest in where their food comes from to foster a national conversation that benefits all of…

Throughout the United States, 144,520 farms sold $1.3 billion in fresh edible agricultural products directly to consumers in 2012. This was a 6 percent increase in farms, and an 8 percent increase in sales, over 2007, the last time the agriculture census was conducted. Farms with direct sales to consumers were 6.9 percent of the nation’s 2.1…

The current revival of roadside markets, farmers’ markets, and “pick-your-own” operations is more than just a nostalgic look to the past. When the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act, Public Law 94-463, was enacted on October 8, 1976, direct marketing became an officially recognized program.

The Act was passed with the hope that direct…

OPEN AIR SALES.- A unique farmers’ market is being operated in the city of Burlington, N.J., located along the Delaware River in Burlington County, and about 18 miles from Philadelphia. Here the farmers haul in their produce on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and and sell direct to the consumers. The farm wagons are lined along both sides of the…

In spite of considerable discussion and some legislation in its favor the farmer's retail market does not appear to be growing in importance. Where these markets are well patronized they furnish an outlet for many fresh, ungraded products which can not be shipped profitably for long distances. Itinerant motor-truck operators also can dispose of…

The success of a public market often depends upon the size and character of its "farmers' line" (PL X, fig. 1). There seems to be an innate desire on the part of housewives to buy from the producer and in the open. Consequently
it behooves a city to study the tributary rural population. If a good truck-growing section is already developed within…

Public market places are established in a number of cities and towns and in these places consumers may buy such articles as fruit, vegetables, dairy products, poultry, and eggs direct from farmers as well as from dealers. In recent years there has been a tendency in some markets, such as at Baltimore, Norfolk, and Washington, for practically all of…

From the point of view of the producer the function of public markets is to furnish an easily accessible place where there is a considerable demand for his goods and where at relatively slight expense he can personally conduct sales. A properly operated public market makes possible the free interaction of the' forces of supply and demand and places…

Buying habits of the local consumers are an important factor. They must be studied to ascertain certain facts: (1) Whether food purchases are made chiefly on credit or for cash; (2) to what extent delivery is demanded; (2) to what extent the residents are willing to take home their own purchases, on foot, on street car or bus, or in the family car;…

Something distinctive about the sign and the lawn will not only aid in causing the motorist to stop, but will also be a big help in bringing them back again. It is much easier for him to remember your place if there is something distinctive about it; he is much more apt to think of your honey each time he sees your distinctive features than he…

The Importance of Signs.
The purpose of a sign may be either:
1. To designate the direction in which the stand is located, or to call attention of the driver to the fact that he is approaching one.
2. To attract the attention of the patrons to the name of the person or persons who own or operate the roadside market.
3. To announce the name,…

“This plan was developed for the operator who plans to sell a considerable amount of farm produce on the retail market.

Location is an important factor. A market of this size should be on a well-traveled road, since a large volume of business is required to justify the cost of such a building. Ample parking space, off the roadway, should be…

Products displayed at fairs or exhibits or on sales stands show well when they are pyramided on one of these semicircular portable display stands.

Roadside stands have become important in the sale of honey. Beekeepers on well-traveled roads often sell their entire crop of thousands of pounds of honey to passing automobilists and buy from other beekeepers to fill the demand. Attractive stands, with signs leading to them for at least half a mile, and high-quality honey, well packaged, will make…

The officials in this State [Massachusetts] believe in making a distinction between products that have been raised near by and those that have been brought a considerable distance for sale. Officials in Ohio, on the other hand, find no disadvantage in the selling, at roadside markets, of products brought in hundreds or even thousands of miles,…

A roadside stand may be just a table on the lawn, where surplus garden products can "be displayed for sale from time to time. It may be a more permanent stand in front of the home or on a nearby highway, with a display counter or shelves, and a roof to protect the produce and the attendant from both sun and rain. It may be still more ambitious, a…

The plan of this volume is very similar to that of the others of the series to which it belongs. It contains a brief, a bibliography, and reprints of articles containing the various arguments for and against the parcels post; also, information in regard to the present status of the parcels post in this and other countries. For the convenience of…

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Photograph of the back end of a car, which is stuck in the mud near Hereford, Texas

Use of the King road-drag

The use of the drag is more satisfactory if the road has first been crowned with a blade grader, but whenever this is not convenient and the traffic is not too heavy, the road maybe gradually brought to a crown by means of the drag (Fig. 19).

The surface of the average country road should be covered in one round…