College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Engaging Students
Search for Chronic Disease Risk Factors in
Horses Leads to Clues about Prevention
Bringing New Life to an Eroding Stream
Value-added Soybeans to Save Money and Environment
Expanding the Learning Experience
Crossing Traditional Boundaries of Science
To Find Health Solutions
Hobby-size Planes May Be Future of
Early Warning System
Improving Local Economies Through Agritourism
Incentive Payments May Reduce Phosphorus Pollution
Protecting Milk’s Flavor and Nutritional Value
Finding a Healthful and Environmentally Friendly Use For Peanut Skins
Supporting Virginia’s Expanding Wine Industry
Virginia Tech Reaches Top 10 in Agricultural Research
Entrepreneurship Education Puts Business Owners in the Express Lane
E-learning Option for Place-bound Professionals
Financial Planning – From the Farm to the Household
New Graduate Program to Train Faculty in Agricultural Education Fields
Farmers’ Markets from Diverse Communities Benefit from Sharing
Families, Food, and Fun
Developing Disease-free Mosquitoes
Mites Make Right in Honduras – or Not?
Help for the Hippos of Zambia
Farmers’ Markets from Diverse Communities
Benefit from Sharing
|
The recent boom in farmers’ markets has allowed producers with locally grown produce and other items to bring not only high-quality, fresh products to consumers but also a nostalgic connection with rural traditions. There are now more than 75 farmers’ markets in communities across Virginia, from rural Narrows to urban Alexandria.
“Farmers’ market managers enter their profession from diverse backgrounds and currently have no model for how to manage their markets,” says Denise Mainville, market analysis specialist for Virginia Cooperative Extension and assistant professor of agricultural and applied economics. “They lack opportunities to communicate with each other and are consequently often isolated as they make key managerial decisions that affect how their markets perform.”
Kimberly Jukes, a junior agricultural and applied economics major, began an Extension-funded research project to investigate this problem under Mainville’s supervision. Mainville originally brought Jukes onto the project to administer an e-mail discussion list for managers, but given her interests and enthusiasm, Jukes quickly became more involved in the research end of the project, too. In addition to Farmers’ Markets from Diverse Communities Benefit from Sharing administering the e-mail discussion list, Jukes has been helping to conduct a survey of farmers’ market managers across Virginia and analyze the results.
“It’s basically a forum for farmers’ market managers to share ideas and ask questions,” says Jukes. “The problems that arise in one town often happen to farmers’ markets around the commonwealth.”
As far as Mainville and Jukes know, Virginia is the only state with such a system. The discussion list, which now includes most of the managers in Virginia, also allows Extension agents to interact with the entire community of farmers’ market managers about important issues such as food safety, liability, and regulations instead of dealing with the issue one manager at a time.
Mainville adds that undergraduate students such as Jukes allow her to tackle projects that she otherwise might not. “Sometimes students like Kimberly come to me for opportunities to extend what they learn in my classes to topics that are of particular interest to them,” she says. “My requirement for undergraduate researchers is that they
identify a topic that is important to Virginia.”