Welcome to the Michigan Farmers Market Website. Our mission is to become a central resource for the managers, sponsors, growers and customers of Michigan farmers markets.

Welcome to the Michigan Farmers Markets Website, a cooperative venture of Michigan State University (its  C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems and its Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies - CARRS), the Michigan Farmers Market Association - MIFMA, and Michigan Food & Farming Systems - MIFFS.  Whether you are a farmers market manager, farmer vendor, customer or developer, we hope you will find valuable and helpful information and connections here. 

You may be wondering exactly what constitutes a farmers market.  It’s a bit different than a farm market, a roadside stand or a public market.  For our purposes, farmers markets happen when a group of farmers come together in a specific location on a regular schedule to sell their food and farm products to the public.  Some farmers markets limit products sold in a particular market stall to be grown, caught, reared, baked, processed etc. by the stallholder.  Other markets restrict products to those from a particular geographic area.  Still others allow vendors who purchase items from others to “re-sell” at the market.  It’s always a good idea to ask where products were grown and who grew them. 

Farmers markets usually operate when fresh produce is available.  In Michigan, this typically means from May through October, but some markets are working to extend their season with stored root crops, greenhouse crops and other products.  Daily operations vary considerably among markets, with some open several days or evenings a week, Saturdays, or a combination.  Market hours are established based on farmer availability and customer desires. 

Farmers markets benefit everyone:

• Local farmers benefit from an outlet to sell directly to consumers and maximize their profits by eliminating the “middle man” and developing loyal customers.
• Consumers benefit from a good source of fresh, wholesome food; they know where their food is coming from, and they help support their local economy.
• Communities benefit as the sale of local food products helps the local economy, improves local farming viability and helps preserve local space; people also tend to spend additional money at other retail businesses near the market. 

Farmers, consumers and communities all benefit from the wonderful social interaction that occurs at well-functioning farmers markets; they help to create new relationships and mutual support. 

In addition to the information you will find on this website, we invite you to join the Farmers Markets in Michigan listserv to participate in discussions on topics ranging from market promotion ideas to finding biodegradable food bags.  Here’s how: 

• Send an email message to listserv@list.msu.edu with this command in the body of the email: SUBSCRIBE farmmktmi your name
• You will be sent a confirmation message with instructions on how to activate your subscription.
• To unsubscribe from the list, send an email to listserv@list.msu.edu with this command in the body of the email: SIGNOFF farmmktmi