Farmers Markets Promote Tourism

EDMONTON - Mar 17/04 - SNS -- It turns out that farmers markets are a powerful way to increase tourism in rural areas, with the Canadian province of Alberta reporting they have become the "number one agri tourism attraction in the province.

"After all, what could be better than fresh local food, Alberta-made crafts and friendly faces," the provincial agriculture department says.

. There are currently 100 Alberta Approved Farmers' Markets throughout the province, and all of them feature straight-from-the-producer products. Consumers can look for the familiar Sunnygirl logo that indicates an approved market.

A full Alberta Agriculture approved farmers' market listing, categorized alphabetically, by date or location, is available on the internet at www.sunnygirl.ca. Times of operation are also provided on this site.

While farmers markets are not an option for all agricultural producers, they clearly point out the fact that it is becoming increasingly important to participate further up the marketing chain with value added products in order to increase farm incomes.

Farmers markets also teach that "value added" does not mean necessarily mean a product has been subject to further processing or produced and packaged in an unusual way. Sometimes, value is added by simply changing the way the consumer sees the product and where the consumer buys.

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