FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 26, 2010
For more information contact:
Bill Clary
(502) 564-1137

Farmers' Market Week honors Kentucky producers

 FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer encourages all Kentuckians to visit a farmers’ market this week and join in the celebration of Farmers’ Market Week in Kentucky, which continues through Saturday, July 31.

“Farmers’ markets offer the very freshest produce available outside of your own garden along with many other products,” Commissioner Farmer said. “But to many customers, the opportunity to meet the people who produced the food is just as important as the food itself. When you shop at a Kentucky farmers’ market, you help a producer make a living and keep your food dollars close to home.”

Numerous farmers’ markets in Kentucky are planning customer appreciation days over the next few weeks that will include cooking demonstrations, cookoffs and food sampling, said Sharon Spencer, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s farmers’ market coordinator.  Among those special events:

  • The LaRue County Farmers' Market will have a “Corn Grill” on Friday, July 30 from noon to 6 p.m. Local beef producer Durham Beef will grill beef kabobs, vegetable kabobs and corn, and Hinton’s Orchard will sell homemade zucchini bread and peach tea.
  • The Simon Kenton Farmers’ Market in Kenton County will host a festival on Saturday, July 31 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. It will feature live music and food booths as well as fresh, locally grown produce, peaches, farm fresh eggs, grass-feed beef, pork, baked goods and value-added products.
  • The LaGrange Farmers' Market and Artisans in Oldham County will host Customer Appreciation Day on Saturday, Aug. 7.

Kentucky farmers’ markets generate more than $7.5 million in sales per year for more than 2,000 farmers across the Commonwealth, according to the Kentucky Farmers’ Market Association.

Kentucky has 147 farmers’ markets registered with the KDA, 23 more than this time a year ago and a 50 percent increase since 2004. Spencer said three more are in the process of getting started. There were 193 first-time vendors at Kentucky farmers' markets last year.

Most markets sell tomatoes, sweet corn, squash, zucchini, beans, apples and peaches, and many also offer meats, eggs, baked goods, cut flowers, nursery and greenhouse plants, and home-processed and microprocessed foods such as jellies, jams, sauces and pickles. Some are set up to accept EBT/debit cards for the customers’ convenience.

Go to www.kyagr.com/marketing/farmmarket/ and click on the 2010 farmers’ market directory to find a market near you.