Local Food Directories from USDA

Agricultural Marketing Service Administrator Anne L. Alonzo recently announced the availability of four USDA Local Food Directories, including three new local food directories for food hubs, community-supported agriculture operations and on-farm markets. There are over 8,200 farmers markets listed with their locations, operating hours and other details.

These valuable online tools give potential customers, business partners and community planners easy, one-stop access to the most current information about sources of local foods.

• USDA’s National Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) Enterprise Directory – A CSA is a farm or network of multiple farms that offers consumers regular deliveries of locally-grown farm products during harvest season on a subscription or membership basis.

• USDA’s National Food Hub Directory – A Food Hub is a business that actively manages the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of food products to multiple buyers from multiple producers, to strengthen the ability of these producers to satisfy local and regional wholesale, retail, and institutional demand.

• USDA’s National On-Farm Market Directory – An On-Farm Market is a farm market managed by a single farm operator that sells agricultural products directly to consumers from a location on their farm property or on property adjacent to that farm.

• USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory – Farmers markets feature two or more farm vendors selling agricultural products directly to customers at a common, recurrent physical location.