The StallDeck magazine
Field notes, rules and budget math for the people who run American farmers markets, one Saturday at a time.
practical guide
A stall map is a safety document, a fairness policy and a load-in schedule at once. Here is how to measure your site, place the fire lanes and seat vendors before the first truck arrives.
comparison
Flat fees are simple to collect and blind to a rained out morning. Percent of sales follows the day but asks vendors to report honestly. Here is what each model costs your office to run, and who it favors.
regulation and compliance
Federal benefit programs run on paperwork that starts long before market day. Here is who holds the authorization, what equipment you need, which items qualify at the stall and what records FNS expects.
checklist
A season is won in the off months. This checklist walks the permits, use agreements, insurance certificates, scale registrations and safety plans a market office finishes before it opens the gates.
mistakes to avoid
Prepared food is where a market's permits get tested. These are the errors that bring an inspector back, from missing cottage food labels to a sampling table with no handwashing setup and no wastewater plan.
case study
California certifies both the market and the farmer selling in it. Walking that system shows how producer verification, county inspections and a per vendor fee fit together into rules a manager can enforce.
numbers and benchmarks
Stall fees carry insurance, permits, staff time and the portable restroom before they carry anything else. Here is the arithmetic that turns your own books into a defensible fee for next season.
field report
Producer only means little without a visit. This is what a farm inspection looks like from the drive in to the write up, and how a manager turns what they saw into a decision that survives an appeal.
trends and outlook
Shoppers carry less cash every season, yet the token drawer still balances the books for SNAP and incentive dollars. Here is how market payments are shifting and what to weigh before retiring tokens.
