A Full Circle Partnership with Georgia Grown
Earlier this month, Georgia Agricultural Commissioner Tyler J. Harper signed a proclamation declaring August 3–9, 2025, as “Georgia Farmers’ Market Week” to celebrate National Farmers Market Week. On the surface, proclamations can feel ceremonial, but for the food space community, this one marks something more significant. It reflects a renewed commitment to investing in farmers markets and strengthening the communities that sustain them.
Through this proclamation, Commissioner Harper announced bold steps to invest in Georgia’s food systems, honing in on the three themes that this year’s National Farmers Market Week was centered around:
Farmers Markets Matter.
Farmers Markets are Essential.
Farmers Markets Don’t Just Happen.
This year, that commitment has taken shape through partnerships and new resources. The Georgia Department of Agriculture and its Georgia Grown program announced a new partnership with us through The Generation Gap™, signaling a clear intention to work alongside grassroots organizers and market leaders to build stronger, more resilient local food systems. This included the launch of an interactive statewide farmers' market map to help consumers connect with their local markets and engage deeper with local food systems. Furthermore, this partnership ensures that the voices of statewide market organizers and leaders remain central in shaping the future of Georgia’s food systems.
For me, this partnership is personal. It was fortified through my founding and leading of the Georgia Farmers Market Association, and after years of working with organizations within and outside the food space nationwide, returning to this work feels like a homecoming. Our vision was not paused, and it never faltered: During this time, I continued collaborating with organizations like the Farmers Market Coalition (FMC), sharpening strategies and designing systems for sustainability and leadership development. Those years produced a deep body of work on community activation and movement-building, work that now informs every step of this partnership.
This collaboration with Georgia Grown represents both continuity and renewal. It is a chance to take what was learned and bring it on home, weaving local stories into a broader statewide strategy. Already, we are building connections with various market managers throughout the State of Georgia, such as Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Freedom Market at The Carter Center, Forsyth Farmers Market in Savannah, and the Green Market at Piedmont Park. An example of the level that our markets are being engaged, these spaces represent the heartbeat of Georgia’s food economy, and they remind us that strong networks are what give individual markets the ability to thrive.
Fresh flowers and good friends at the Farmers Market is exactly how the weekend should be spent
Farmers markets matter because they sit at the intersection of food, culture, and community. They provide farmers and small producers with reliable income, they keep dollars circulating locally, and they create space for people to gather and connect. In short, they are not luxuries; they are essential infrastructure.
As we celebrate yet another successful National Farmers Market Week, I encourage you to reflect on what your local markets mean to you. Stop by, shake a farmer’s hand, buy something fresh, and know that your support contributes to an ecosystem much larger than the single purchase you make. This is what partnership looks like in practice: people coming together, sustaining one another, and building toward a future that values both nourishment and connection.
