Submitted by Sarah Simeziane on Mon, 10/16/2017 – 5:36pm …but wait, we’re still enjoying the 2017 season, isn’t next year a ways off? Farmers and market managers will immediately tell you, no. The next season feels like it will start about 5 minutes after the last, and this time around we’re very excited for that. […]
Sarah Simeziane
Dispatches from the 2018 National Direct Agricultural Marketing Summit
Submitted by Sarah Simeziane on Mon, 09/24/2018 – 9:55am Last week I flew out east to attend the first ever National Direct Agricultural Market Summit, organized by the USDA, Farmers Market Coalition, Farm Credit Council, Food Distribution Research Society and National Value Added Conference. Held in Arlington, VA, the Summit was designed to pull together farmers market […]
Farmers Markets and SNAP
Submitted by Sarah Simeziane on Mon, 05/07/2018 – 5:44pm Last week I got to make my National Public Radio debut, as a guest on WILL’s show The 21st with Niala Boodhoo, along with Catherine Dunlop (manager of the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market) and Natalie Moore (WBEZ Chicago’s South Side bureau reporter). And of course, ever since […]
Farmers Markets, They Grow Up So Fast!
Submitted by Sarah Simeziane on Thu, 01/03/2019 – 11:36am In the grand scheme of things, we’re still a pretty young market here in Champaign. With the start of the new year, however, it has really struck me: this year the Champaign Farmers Market turns 5! It doesn’t feel like 4 years could have possibly gone […]
Food Hub Hubbub
Submitted by Sarah Simeziane on Fri, 11/10/2017 – 4:04pm Now that Market season has wrapped up, it’s time for the annual barrage of “So what do you do with yourself now that the season’s done?” The answer for all market managers is, of course, PLENTY. Analyzing the last season and planning, fundraising, getting ready for […]
How the USDA has invested in TLC
Submitted by Sarah Simeziane on Mon, 11/26/2018 – 3:48pm Back in September at the National Direct Ag Marketing summit, I got the chance to present a poster on TLC’s work combining grants to bolster our farmers market and food access programming (more about that trip in a past blog entry). In a nutshell, our poster […]
