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Full Circle Farm goes on record for Local Farms, Healthy Kids
January 2008
This January 2008, Full Circle farmer Andrew Stout took a day out from farm work in Carnation to join other farmers, parents
and community advocates in Olympia to support legislation that would improve the connections between local farms and
schools, state institutions and food banks.
As we've described before in this space, getting healthy, fresh foods to people in our communities, especially kids
and those in need, was a founding value for Full Circle. We are very excited about the fact that legislators in
Olympia are considering this "win-win" legislation designed to expand the opportunities for local farms to feed
local kids fresh healthy food. The bills, HB2798 in the House and SB6483 in the Senate were introduced by
Representative Eric Pettigrew of Seattle and Senator Brian Hatfield of Grays Harbor and have garnered a
broad list of cosponsors in both the House and Senate.
You can see if your legislators are on board at
www.leg.wa.gov/legislature.
You can also check WEC's website, www.wecprotects.org, for the latest news.
To read the full summary, please click here.
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National Farmers Market Coalition Launched!
November 2007
Recently Full Circle farmer Andrew Stout traveled to Baltimore, Maryland to attend the first-ever national Farmers Market
Summit hosted by the USDA, a new organization he helped to found.
At the summit, attendees developed a priority list of issues and areas to be addressed including supporting policy changes
ranging from zoning and securing permanent locations for markets to helping markets navigate and work to change regulations
such as health department codes governing the selling of meats, cheese, fish and wine, to broadening low-income access to
the fresh healthy food available at farmers markets.
The Farmers Market Coalition was formed to give a unified voice, support and coordination to the very decentralized farmers market movement
that has sprung up "organically" across the country.
More info on the Farmers Market Coalition can be found at
the Web site.
To read more about the meeting, please click here.
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FARMERS MARKETS
In 1994, there were approximately 1,755 farmers markets in the United States. In 2006 their numbers have more
than doubled — to over 4,385. More than 3 million consumers shop and more than 30,000 farmers sell at these
markets annually. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that these markets generate
approximately $1 billion in consumer spending each year.
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