By Allison Braden

North Carolina boasts more than 200 farmers markets, putting it among the states with the most markets in the country. When the pandemic threatened supply chains and food system resilience became a headline issue, many southeastern states, including South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee, had statewide farmers market networks to coordinate a response. North Carolina didn’t.

When farmers markets were deemed essential services, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association began to host weekly calls with all the farmers market managers it could get in touch with. The calls drove home the need for a formal statewide network. 

Members of the informal collaboration, including Samantha DeRosa of Farmers Market Management Services in Charlotte, formed a steering committee. In late October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the group a little more than $166,000 to build and formalize a North Carolina farmers market network. 

“We are a very different type of profession and industry,” DeRosa says. “A lot of people think that we’re event planning and that the only day we really work is on Saturday, which is not true.” DeRosa spends her week reviewing vendor applications, coordinating with neighborhood and local government groups, and recruiting farmers. “One of the things that you have in a state association is shared best practices, information on state and federal funding policies, and it really is helpful that we are able to share this information with each other.”

To foster this collaboration and build a resilient food system, DeRosa and her team have three initial priorities: (1) to incorporate the statewide network as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, (2) to develop and distribute tools and training materials to market managers, and (3) to promote local markets and producers from the mountains to the coast.

The project proposal outlines expected outcomes: “increased local food sales, increased professionalism and profitability of farmers markets, and better community and government understanding of the essential nature of farmers markets to food access.” 

In 2018, the city hired consultant Karen Karp & Partners to study Charlotte’s farmers market and food systems. The report’s first recommendation was to launch a citywide market network. In 2017, 16 markets operated in Charlotte, but many of their organizers lacked market experience. “By creating a structure for communication, collaboration, marketing, and education,” the report says, “the city’s individual markets will be able to cultivate more effectively a culture of eating locally and seasonally — with farmers’ markets as a key component.” The statewide network will also serve these local objectives.

In her seven years as a market manager, DeRosa has often felt alone. Her work eludes easy categorization. She’s not a grocer, farmer, artisan, or event planner, though her job incorporates aspects of all of those roles. “We never really fit into a space,” she says, “so having this group together is going to feel like home.”