Introduction to FMC’s Evaluation Toolkit
Data: A Powerful Tool
For Operations
If you hear evaluation and believe it will be a heavy lift of time and resources, think again! Even if you don’t realize it, you’re likely already collecting a lot of data. FMC believes some of the best data collection is already being done during your daily market operations. You already track information to make your market function smoothly and make decisions about its future.
For Communications
Farmers markets nationwide have multiple positive impacts in the communities they serve. They provide diverse benefits to many different groups. FMC often communicates these benefits in two ways:
- Outcomes
- Viable local agriculture & food systems
- Thriving small businesses & local economies
- Healthy people
- Vibrant communities
- Equitable food access
- Systems Impacts
- Economic identifies financial rewards, including job creation and built infrastructure.
- Social includes social inclusion, bridging and bonding, civic engagement and political participation.
- Ecological presents the conservation or reuse of natural materials, and the restoration and stewardship of the natural world.
These frameworks can help individual markets set organizational goals; they are also helpful when communicating the benefits of farmers markets to external audiences.
For Understanding the Sector
Each market has a role to play in telling the collective story of farmers markets nationally. Reliable data about the sector is key to that storytelling. FMC holds a vision of shared metrics that provide snapshots of the sector at regional, state, and national levels. Consistent data collection and sharing is essential for advocacy work: making the case for farmers markets’ positive impacts through policy change and funding contributes to a thriving farmers market sector.
So, What Are Metrics Anyway?
One key term throughout these guides is metrics. Simply put, metrics are standards of measurement. Other terms that are often used, and mean roughly the same thing as metrics, are indicators or benchmarks.
FMC has a table of more than 40 commonly used farmers market metrics, and suggests that you track a small number of these that are most important to you. Tracking metrics allows you to speak with conviction about the impacts your market makes. Some examples are in the table below.
[Note: It may be helpful before diving into the guides at the beginning of this training to review the companion glossary of all the measurement words used within these materials. ]
| By tracking… | Your market can say… |
|---|---|
| Total number of volunteer hours contributed | Our market is a hub for community engagement |
| Total number of farm vendors | Our market supports local agriculture |
| Total SNAP EBT processed | Our market has increased food access and vendor sales by offering SNAP EBT |
| Transportation method used by market visitors | Our market is accessible to and used by customers who rely on a variety of transit forms – including those without cars |
| Average visitor spending at nearby businesses | Our market contributes to the local economy where it operates |
How to Use This Toolkit
The units of this toolkit contain best practices and FMC recommendations for each step of the evaluation process (see Figure 1. for evaluation process cycle). Each unit demonstrates the ways your current (and future) data collection can help you achieve your market’s goals. Look for the following sections in each unit:
- Effective Approaches: FMC’s overview of the topic and recommended approaches
- Resources: Resources, templates, and how-to guides (from FMC and beyond)
- Case Study: In each unit, we’ll get to see the concepts in action as we follow the Main Street Market’s planning process for the upcoming market season.
FMC’s Evaluation Toolkit includes the following components:
- Quick-Start Tool:
- A summary version of the in depth guides #1-#5 below.
- Guide #1: PLAN: Evaluation Planning and Metric Selection
- Decide what you want to know; map a plan for collecting this information throughout the year.
- Guide #2: COLLECT: Data Collection Methods and Implementation
- FMC’s best practices for implementation, plus a collection of tools to help with the process.
- Guide #3: TRACK: Data Entry and Management
- Integrate into your existing workflows. Note that there is a companion Excel Workbook for this unit.
- Guide #4: ANALYZE: Data Analysis and Reporting
- Reflect on and analyze the data you have. Identify trends, and then turn your data into metrics and summary reports.
- Guide #5: SHARE: Use and Communicate Results
- Communicate the data you’ve collected. Offers sample messaging, templates, and best practices using selected indicators and metrics.
Acknowledgements
These training materials were created with support from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) FL-326-G, and reference research in process as part of the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) 2014-68006-21857, in collaboration with Dr. Alfonso Morales of the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Created by Darlene Wolnik, Stacy Miller, Sara Padilla, and Jennifer Cheek, along with a panel of expert advisors including Colleen Donovan with the Washington State Farmers Market Association and Dru Montri of the Michigan Farmers Market Association, and updated in 2024 for the Farmers Market Coalition’s Farmers Market Evaluation website by FMC staff, with support from Amanda Edmonds and Lindsay Way.