Farmers Market Legal Toolkit Resource Companion

Across the country, farmers markets are supporting farms and other small businesses, increasing access to fresh foods, and meeting a host of other community needs.

Farmers markets are collections of relationships within a community—between markets and host sites, managers and vendors, farmers and customers, and many more. Legal tools can help clarify responsibilities and expectations within those relationships.

This toolkit is designed and developed for market leaders who, together with their vendors, are looking for legal tools and resources to help them build resilient farmers markets in their communities.

Farmers markets play an important role in building resilient local food systems and vibrant communities. This Toolkit was developed to support farmers markets throughout the U.S. with open- source legal tools to inform farmers market leaders as they make decisions to build and grow their markets. The specific topics covered in the Toolkit were selected in response to recurring questions from farmers market managers—about how business structure would affect their organizations, what types of legal risks exist and how to manage them, and how to follow SNAP program requirements to make market products accessible for all community members.

Acknowledgements

This Toolkit was created with the combined time and talents of many people. In particular, we would like to recognize:

The Project Team: Claire Child, Lihlani Skipper Nelson, Laurie Ristino, and Emily Spiegel (CAFS); Jen O’Brien Cheek and Darlene Wolnik (FMC); Erin Buckwalter (NOFA-VT).

The Project Advisory Board: Sophia Kruszewski, Jeffrey O’Hara, Charlotte Roozekrans, Gus Schumacher, and Andrew Knafel.

Jamie Renner for his years of leading the project, as well as legal review and content development.

Former CAFS Staff: Sarah Danly, Rebecca Valentine, and Delilah Griswold.

CAFS Students (in the Food & Agriculture Clinic and Research Assistants): Elizabeth Bootz, Natalie Colao, Kaitlyn Kachmarik, Emily Kenyon, Nico Lustig, Katie Michel, Lauren Moore, Sarah Munger, Carly Orozco, Michael Pottetti, Gabrielle Regney, Emilie Schwartz, Melissa Shapiro, Alison Uhrlass, Madelyn Vitale, Sera Yoon.

Rachel Armstrong at Farm Commons for legal review and content development.

Gabe Halberg at Dadra Design for web design & development.

Mike Custode for custom, hand-drawn illustrations.

Andrea DiMattina for designing the print resources and this Toolkit companion.

Farmers Market Managers and Leaders who shared their experiences, questions, and perspectives with the project team. Special thanks to the following market representatives who provided input and feedback: Suzanne Briggs, Diane Eggert at the Farmers Market Federation of New York, Sheryl Maher at Brattleboro Winter Market, Jeff Cole at Mass Farmers Markets, Corey Chatman at Experimental Station, Kevin Thompson at Capital City Farmers Market, Angelina Harrison at Market Umbrella, Eileen Nichols at Webb City Farmers Market, and Mary Yost at Durham Farmers Market.

Project Partners: The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School (CAFS) partnered with the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) to create this Toolkit. Special thanks to Jen O’Brien Cheek (FMC), Darlene Wolnik (FMC), and Erin Buckwalter (NOFA-VT) for their extensive contributions to this resource. This Toolkit was created with support from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA).