Pick Tennessee Products Celebrates 25th Anniversary with a Farmers Market Tour

Nashville - We’re celebrating Pick Tennessee Products 25^th year with a statewide tour of farmers markets in June and July. Pick Tennessee Products is the promotional campaign through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture that works to connect consumers with locally made food products.

 

“Pick Tennessee Products has been connecting farmers to consumers since 1986, and its message is even more relevant today than it was 25 years ago,” said state Agriculture Commissioner Julius Johnson. “The program began as a campaign to identify local food products in retail stores but has expanded with national trends to focus on farm-direct foods and local farmers markets.”

 

“Governor Haslam has made clear he wants to help Tennessee’s rural economies, and we’re taking that message to heart,” said Johnson. “Choosing locally grown and made foods is one way everyone can join him in the effort, so the upcoming farmers markets events will focus on teaching shoppers how to choose and use the local foods they buy.”

 

Tammy Algood, spokesperson for the Pick Tennessee Products promotion and author of “The Complete Southern Cookbook,” will have a “25 Things to Remember at Your Farmers Market” session at each tour stop, sharing tips on choosing and storing fresh produce, and offering easy recipes for fresh produce. Copies of her new cookbook and baskets of farm-direct and artisan Tennessee foods will be given as prizes to lucky customers.

 

“Choosing locally grown products is a great way for all of us to help each other,” said Johnson. “Farms and rural economies get the help they need to stay strong, and we all benefit from fresh foods that come from local farm businesses.”

 

For more information about the tour, visit the www.picktnproducts.org and click on the 25^th anniversary logo. TDA maintains the free website promoting more than 1,500 individual farmers and farm-direct businesses listing nearly 6,000 farm products. Visitors to www.picktnproducts.org can find statewide directories to farmers markets, seasonal farm product recipes, orchards and pick-your-own farms and retail stores where local products are sold.

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Farmers Market Tour Schedule