Schoharie Fresh Ranked In Top 100 Most Celebrated In the Country

—After more than three months, American Farmland Trust’s 2014 I Love My Farmers Market Celebration came to a close and Schoharie Fresh ranked number 26 in the Top 100 Most Celebrated in the Country – with 86 pledges collected. This is the second year that Schoharie Fresh participated in this celebration and a significant jump in the national placement from the 64 spot in 2013.

 Schoharie Fresh is an online Farmer’s Market in Schoharie County that was funded initially through the Creating Healthy Places grant through NYS Department of Health to improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables to residents in Schoharie County. It was started in 2011 with a pick up location at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Building in Cobleskill. It was moved to the SUNY Cobleskill campus in 2012 and the season was expanded. In 2014 two additional customer pick up locations were added to make it more convenient for those living in Schoharie and Central Bridge to purchase local foods through Schoharie Fresh. Also in 2014 Schoharie Fresh was approved to accept SNAP benefits, enabling more people to utilize this service. Schoharie Fresh is now open from February through December each year.

 Each week the I Love My Farmers Market Celebration encouraged shoppers to champion local family farmers by pledging to shop at their farmers markets each week. Nationally, shoppers pledged to spend $443,608.62at farmers’ markets this season, putting funds directly into the pockets of family farmers.

 “Farmers and ranchers are the cornerstone of our country. Yet their lands are under constant threat from development and unchecked urbanization,” said Susan Sink, Vice President of Development and External Relations. “This is why we created the I Love My Farmers Market Celebration — to showcase the importance of farmers markets in keeping family farmers on their land. Pledging to shop at your local farmers market shows your support for the farmers and ranchers who support you.”

I Love My Farmers Market Celebration is part of American Farmland Trust’sNo Farms No Food® Campaign – an effort to highlight the abundance of fresh, healthy, and local food produced by America’s farms and ranches and to recognize that we must do more to save America’s rapidly disappearing family farms. 

For more information on Schoharie Fresh, please go to the website at www.schohariefresh.com or contact us at schohariefresh@gmail.com. Schoharie Fresh is funded in part by Creating Healthy Places, a NYS Dept of Health grant initiative and United Against Hunger from the United Way of the Greater Capital Region