Released: February 16, 2006

Kansas Farmers’ Market Workshop Slated For February

WICHITA, Kan. – The 2006 Kansas Farmers’ Market Workshop is scheduled for Feb. 24 in Wichita. The workshop is designed to inform and train Kansas farmers and farmers’ market leaders on the skills needed to make community farmers’ markets successful, said Jana Beckman coordinator for the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops.

Speakers for this year’s workshop are Randii MacNear, farmer’s market manager in Davis, Calif. and Doug Walton, market vendor in Muskogee, Okla. MacNear and Walton will speak about how to improve vendor marketing skills, individual business growth, promotional strategies, building community partnerships and how to run a market more smoothly.

MacNear became manager of the Davis, Calif. market in 1978 and has helped it grow from 10 to 85 vendors. Walton began market gardening in Kansas and currently has eight-acres devoted to raising products that he and his family sells at the Muskogee farmers’ market. Walton has also worked with Oklahoma State University researching farmers’ markets and their customers.

The free workshop is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program and will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center in Wichita.

For more information, interested persons can contact Jerry Jost at 785-865-2555.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Leah Bond
lbond@ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News