- The USDA definition
- Farmers market, farm stand, public market, CSA
- How each type appears in our listings
- Questions people ask
The USDA definition
The USDA Local Food Directories, the national register that market managers add themselves to, define a farmers market as a market with two or more farm vendors selling agricultural products directly to customers at a common, recurrent physical location. Three parts of that matter for a shopper. Two or more farm vendors: a single farm selling from its own gate is a farm stand, not a market. Directly to customers: the person at the table grew, raised or made what is on it, or works for the farm that did. Recurrent: the market comes back on a schedule, usually one or two mornings a week in season, which is why the day of the week is the first thing to check.
Farmers market, farm stand, public market, CSA
A farmers market is the recurring, multi-vendor market above. Most run on a weekend morning from late spring to autumn; in warm states and in cities with a hall, some run year-round.
A farm stand or on-farm market is one farm selling its own produce from a stand, barn or shop on or next to the farm. The USDA keeps a separate on-farm market directory for these. Hours are often longer than a market's, and many are seasonal with a pick-your-own field in the busy months.
A public market is a permanent building or covered hall with many vendors, open several days a week. Some are farmers markets in the USDA sense, others are mostly food stalls and shops. We label them separately when the source does.
A CSA farm (community-supported agriculture) sells a share of the harvest by subscription, with weekly pickups at the farm or a drop-off point. It is a way to buy from one farm rather than a place to browse.
A produce store or greengrocer buys from wholesalers and is open daily. It can be excellent, but it is a shop, not a market, and we do not list it.
How each type appears in our listings
Our 33,765 listings break down as: Farmers market 21,305; Farm stand / on-farm market 8,286; Farmers market or farm stand (SNAP list) 3,736; Pick-your-own farm or orchard 226; Public market 204; CSA farm 8. The type comes from the source register or dataset, not from the name: a place called "Market" that a register lists as an on-farm market is shown as a farm stand. Listings labelled "farmers market or farm stand (SNAP list)" come only from the USDA SNAP retailer register, which groups both under one store type; their schedule is unknown until a register or the market's own website gives it.
Every listing shows its sources. Where a market day, hours and season are known, the page says which register or website they came from and, for websites, the date we read them. Where they are not known, the page says so rather than guessing.
Questions people ask
- Is everything at a farmers market grown locally?
- Not always. Many markets are "producer-only" and require vendors to grow what they sell; others allow some resale of produce bought elsewhere. The market's own rules, usually on its website, say which. Ask the vendor where it was grown; at a producer-only market the answer is their own farm.
- Can I pay with a card or SNAP/EBT?
- Most vendors take cash, and many take cards. SNAP/EBT is handled at the market level: 6,997 of our listings are authorized SNAP retailers in the USDA register. See the guide to using SNAP/EBT at farmers markets.
- Why is the market day more important than opening hours?
- Because a market is an event. A shop is open most days; a market is open on its day, for a few hours, within its season. The guide to market days shows how those days split across the week in the schedules we hold.