Hopping on the Localist Wagon, Farmers Flood Charlotte [View all]

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Hopping on the Localist Wagon, Farmers Flood Charlotte



[font size="1"]North Carolina had more than 200 farmers markets in 2011. Credit: Amber Veverka[/font]


via PlanCharlotte


Cars jammed the parking lots, spilled over onto the lawn and relentlessly circled, searching for spaces. One recent Saturday at the state-run Charlotte Regional Farmers Market, Arlene Haigler could plainly see how a national trend had come home to North Carolina.

“We had 4,100 cars,” Haigler, the market’s acting manager, said of that late-May Saturday. “They parked in front of our office and everywhere.”

Fed by a growing interest in local food, residents in the Charlotte region and nationwide are flocking to farmers markets. Communities are responding by opening new markets or expanding hours, and vendors are responding by elbowing for sales space.

The number of farmers markets nationwide jumped 17 percent last year, with more than 1,000 new markets opening, bringing the total to more than 7,100, the biggest increase since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began tracking the category. North Carolina, with more than 200 farmers markets in 2011, ranked in the top 10 states for markets, the only Southern state to make that list. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://americancity.org/daily/entry/hopping-on-the-localist-wagon-farmers-flood-charlotte