Watauga County Farmers' Market

Watauga County Farmers' Market will be participating in the Seniors and WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program again this year. This is an excellent program through which the state provides Seniors, Women, Infants and Children with fresh fruits and vegetables free of charge.

Participants are issued coupons which they can redeem with participating farmers at the market. This benefits both parties and exposes our market to a number of people who might not otherwise attend.

The redemption rates for coupons were higher in 2007 than they have been for quite a few years. The statewide redemption rate for seniors was 83% and for WIC FMNP was 50%. I do not have any local data for the seniors program, but the WIC FMNP redemption rate for the Watauga County division of Appalachian Health District was 55.3% with a dollar amount of $2,524 in redemptions. WCFM had 11 farmers participating, with a total number of 405 farmers participating statewide.

If you are interested in the figures for other counties and markets, let me know and I will provide a copy for you. I will also keep a few copies on hand while I am at the market.