Local Roots
Stronger Together
The mission of the Connecticut Farmers Market Association is to Champion farmers’ markets by fostering collaboration, providing critical resources, and driving the sustainability of markets across the state thus supporting small to midsize farms and locally owned businesses.
Our Story
In 2022, the directors of three Connecticut based farmers’ markets identified the need for the state to have its own Farmers’ Market Association. Since then they have solicited input from Market Masters around the state as well as the Department of Agriculture, Connecticut Food System Alliance, other similar state organizations and the National Farmers’ Market Association to gauge buy-in for this new entity and to assess the pain points and successes shared by state farmers’ markets.
Wide reaching support for this association has been expressed over and over repeatedly from our Connecticut farmers’ markets, farms, and state agency representatives. There are clear, common areas of need that a Farmers’ Market Association is well positioned to address. The Connecticut Farmers’ Market Association was founded in 2024 and will have an immediate and long term positive impact on farmers’ markets around the state.
Program Areas
The CT FMA is dedicated to supporting and strengthening farmers’ markets across the state through four key program areas. Together, these efforts seek to empower farmers’ markets to thrive and better serve their communities.
Collaboration, knowledge sharing and gathering:
Bring together key stakeholders from farmers’ markets around the state to share their knowledge, ask questions, discuss pain points and foster collaboration.
Gather folks both in person as well as through digital forums.
Resource creation and dissemination:
Regularly solicit feedback from members to understand their key questions and problem areas.
Create high quality educational resources based on the topic areas of greatest interest to members.
This could include: hosting webinars, bringing in subject matter experts to share their knowledge, writing informative articles, creating full training toolkits, repurposing or sharing existing resources, etc.
These will be disseminated to members via email newsletters, during gatherings (digital and in person), and in the future, provided through an online resources database.
Data Collection:
Become a centralized source for collecting data about farmers’ markets so we can measure progress over time as well as use data to advocate for the markets.
Our Mission
Support Local
Shop fresh, local, & seasonal at a market near you
Stronger Communities
Farmers markets bring people together and build connections
Sustainable Future
Supporting local farmers helps create a healthier tomorrow
