The Farmers Market Coalition (FMC), a national nonprofit, and UW–Madison were selected for nearly $640,000 in new funding through the USDA Agricultural and Food Research Initiative grant program, according to WisBusiness. The UW research project will help farmers markets attract new consumers and encourage them to purchase products from small and medium-sized farms.
FMC, through a partnership with communication researchers, will identify current and potential market segments via a national survey; it will focus on those currently underrepresented among farmers market customers.
The results will be accessible to farmers market organizers around the country, and FMC and UW–Madison will host a webinar series to share key findings. UW–Madison is also partnering with state farmers market leaders throughout Wisconsin and in Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and Vermont, where new messaging informed by the survey will be tested.
