Farmers markets can offer solutions to several of the biggest problems besetting the US food system: fair prices to farmers; healthy, fresh food for consumers; direct contacts between consumers and farmers; food for food deserts; support for local economies. Awareness of these benefits led us to study the farmers markets of Greater Cincinnati. Markets grew rapidly in the early 1980s, peaked in 2012, and declined 17% by 2018. Sixty-one percent of the markets that started since 1970 have closed. Two types of markets exist: farmer-focused markets, with farmer vendors, and consumer-focused markets, with farmers and specialist vendors. Detailed information about market management shows that managers, the majority of whom are volunteers or underpaid, have insufficient resources to be sustainable. Market decline is often blamed on an oversupply of markets, but other factors are involved: the inability of market personnel and customers to cross class and racial boundaries; the encroachment of online retailers; a scarcity of farmers; market manager failures. Individual markets need to form coalitions and gain sufficient resources from governments or private funders to employ specialists who can assist managers, expand the consumer base, and design promotion campaigns that effectively promote farmers markets in the changing retail food landscape.

农贸市场可以为困扰美国粮食系统的几个最大问题提供解决方案：向农民提供公平的价格；为消费者提供健康、新鲜的食品；消费者和农民之间的直接接触；食物沙漠的食物；支持当地经济。对这些好处的认识促使我们研究了大辛辛那提的农贸市场。市场在 20 世纪 80 年代初迅速增长，在 2012 年达到顶峰，到 2018 年下降了 17%。自 1970 年开始的市场中有 61% 已经关闭。存在两种类型的市场：以农民为中心的市场，有农民摊贩；以消费者为中心的市场，有农民和专业摊贩。有关市场管理的详细信息表明，管理者（其中大多数是志愿者或工资过低）没有足够的资源来维持下去。市场下滑通常被归咎于市场供过于求，但还涉及其他因素：市场人员和顾客无法跨越阶层和种族界限；在线零售商的侵蚀；缺乏农民；市场经理的失败。各个市场需要组成联盟，并从政府或私人资助者那里获得足够的资源，以聘请可以协助管理者的专家，扩大消费者基础，并设计促销活动，以在不断变化的零售食品格局中有效地促进农贸市场的发展。