Members of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and Community Farm Alliance celebrated National Farmers Market Week during a Tuesday news conference at Bowling Green’s Community Farmers Market.

During the event, Molina Healthcare presented a $20,000 donation to the Community Farm Alliance to sponsor the week of recognition for farmers markets in the state.

Both Sharon Spencer, direct farm marketing manager with the Department of Agriculture, and Community Farm Alliance Executive Director Martin Richards were present and commended the work of farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Last year was a tough year for our communities and for our state, but one thing we discovered is that farmers are essential,” Spencer said. “Consumers turned to our farmers markets and our local family markets as a source of fresh and healthy food products.

“We are so proud of our markets and our vendors, and we want to keep this local food movement continuing all across the state,” she said.

Spencer said there are nearly 3,000 vendors in markets across 115 of Kentucky’s counties. She added it’s a goal of the department to have a site in all 120 counties.

Richards spoke to Kentucky’s support of farmers by highlighting positive growth in sales across the state’s markets over the previous year.

“I’m really happy that CFA and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture have really worked together to provide those farmers markets with guidance on how to stay safe,” he said. “We are seeing the increase in sales from last year. People really have respect for Kentucky farmers.”

Local farmer and one of the Community Farmers Market’s founding members Nathan Howell said the local site still has more than 40 vendors selling products due to the public’s support.

“Our mission when we started the market was to provide Kentucky farmers and producers a place to sell their Kentucky products to all Kentuckians,” Howell said. “With the help of WKU, we turned this abandon building into a food hub and year-round market for the Bowling Green community.”