Transparent by design

Data sources and methodology

A directory is only trustworthy when visitors can see where the facts came from and where the gaps remain.

Primary directory source

The current import contains 7,951 records from the U.S. Farmers Markets 2026 (record-level, USDA-derived, cleaned + enriched). It is derived from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Local Food Portal and distributed under CC-BY-4.0. The dataset reports a generation date of 2026-07-22.

USDA describes its National Farmers Market Directory as a directory of recurrent physical locations where two or more farm vendors sell agricultural products directly to customers. The source includes fields such as location, operating times, products, and payment forms.

What the import does

• normalizes URLs, state names, ZIP codes, and route-safe slugs;
• merges compatible product, payment, and schedule fields from a legacy USDA export;
• resolves county names from coordinates where possible;
• deduplicates route slugs without merging distinct market records;
• records whether address, hours, products, and contact data are actually present;
• creates indexable pages only when a listing crosses a usefulness threshold.

Indexing and missing information

3,876 market detail pages currently meet the automated completeness threshold. Incomplete records remain navigable but include a noindex directive. This keeps the directory honest and prevents thousands of near-empty pages from competing in search.

“Not reported” is not converted into “no.” For example, an empty SNAP field does not prove a market rejects SNAP, and an empty product list does not prove the products are unavailable.

Maps and distances

Coordinates originate in the directory dataset. Detail-page maps use OpenStreetMap. The near-me tool uses the Haversine formula to calculate straight-line distance in the browser; it is not a driving-distance estimate.

Update policy

The import is reproducible through the project’s data refresh script. Market schedules can still change faster than any national dataset. Visitors should confirm with the linked official website, social page, or phone number before traveling.

Editorial sources

Guides link claims to USDA AMS, USDA Food and Nutrition Service, USDA Economic Research Service, FDA, CDC, and university food-preservation resources. See the editorial policy for how sources and updates are handled.