Project Report

IE 6600 Section 36154

​USDA National Farmers Market Data Analysis

by

Ronit Mankad
mankad.r@northeastern.edu
Overview

Direct to consumer marketing is an effective strategy to distribute agricultural and farm

products to consumers. Farmers market forms an important link between farmers and
consumers that helps foster farmer consumer relationships. The United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recognized the importance of farmers markets.
Through its many programs, USDA has helped the growth of farmers markets across
the country. As on date, ​ 8,791 farmers markets are listed in USDA’s National Farmers
Market Directory.

Given is a .csv file for the USDA Farmers Market dataset.

Project Objectives

● To generate a detailed report on the growth and evolution of farmer markets in

the US.
● Use the data to generate visual insights on the geographic, product and payment
system distribution of farmer markets across the country.
● To incorporate additional insights that may not be available in the given dataset.

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Analyzing the Data

Let’s import the ​fmarkets.csv​ file as a data frame and take a look.

The data frame contains 8791 rows and 59 columns, each row representing a Farmers
Market.

These columns (or attributes) can be categorized into five categories:-

1. Market Details
FMID: ​A unique market id
MarketName: ​ Name of the market

2. Social Media Data

Facebook: ​ The Facebook page of the market
Twitter: ​The Twitter handle of the market
Youtube: ​The Youtube page of the market
OtherMedia: ​Links to any other media pages
Website: ​A link to the market Website

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3. Geographical Data
​street: ​ market’s street
​City: ​market’s city
County: ​market's county
State: ​market’s State
Zip: ​market’s zip code
x: ​x-coordinate
y: ​y-coordinate
Location: b ​ uilding/ground where the market is held

4. Seasonality Data
Season1Date: dates for season 1
Season1Time: season 1 market open hours
Season2Date: dates for season 2
Season2Time: season 2 market open hours
Season3Date: dates for season 3
Season3Time: season 3 market open hours
Season4Date: dates for season 4
Season4Time: season 4 market open hours

5. Payment Types Data

​Credit: ​ markets using Credit
​WIC: ​ Special Nutritional Program for Women, Infants, and Children
WICcash: ​WIC cash program
SFMNP: Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program
SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

6. Product Data
Contains more than 30 different kinds of product categories like ​Vegetables,
Baked Goods, Fruits etc.

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Analysis of the Geographical Data

Which State has the most number of Markets?

The State-Wise distribution of the Farmers Markets across the US can be visualized
with a Choropleth map.

As we can see, ​California​ and​ New York​ have the most number of markets (above 700).
The ​Northeast​ part of the US has more markets than that of ​Central​ US.

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Which County has the most number of Markets?

We can also study the ​County-Wise​ distribution of the Markets using a TreeMap.

This tells us the same story as the Choropleth map.

- California​ and ​New York​ have the most number of markets with bigger counties
like ​Los Angeles, San Diego, New York​ and ​Bronx​ having the most number of
markets.

However, as is evident from the amount of empty county boxes, a large part of county
data is missing and hence no further conclusions can be drawn from them.

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What types of Buildings are the Markets held in?

● This bar chart tells us that the majority of the markets are being held in local
government building grounds and parking lots.

● Almost no markets are held in a wholesale market facility.

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Analysis of Social Media Data

What types of Social Media sites do the Markets use? Which one is the
most common?

● Website has almost half of the share as far as media usage goes.

● Youtube is barely used by 2% of the markets.

● Twitter​ and ​Other Media​ are equally used across the US.

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How many markets are using each media type?

This is again in corroboration with our previous conclusions.

● As we can see, a stand-alone ​Website​ is the most common type of Social Media
with more than 4000 markets using it.

● Facebook​ is a close second with the number of markets around 3800.

● Youtube​ is the least used service with less than 500 markets using it.

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What is the Social Media usage by State?

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● By looking at these plots, we can clearly see that ​California​ and ​New York
markets have the highest number of users for all media types.

● North Dakota ​Markets have close to zero social media usage.

● Facebook​ and a personal ​Website​ is used by markets in 49 states (all states

except ​Virgin Islands​).

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Analysis of Payment Types

What types of Payment Types do the Markets use? Which one is the most
common?

● As we can see, ​Credit​ is the most used Payment System.

● SNAP​, ​SFMNP​ and ​WIC​ are all equally used.

● WICcash​ is the least used payment method.

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How many markets are using each payment type?

This is again in corroboration with our donut chart.

● More than 5000 markets accept ​Credit​ as a payment type.

● WIC, SFMNP​ and ​SNAP​ are all used by around 2600 markets.

● WICcash​ is used by less than 1500 markets.

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What is the State-Wise usage of each Payment Type?

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This tells the same story as the Social Media distribution.

● California​ and​ New York​ use every type of Payment Method.

● North Dakota​ doesn’t use any other type of Payment Method other than ​Credit​.

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Analysis of Products Data

What type of products do these markets sell?

Let’s look at a TreeMap by dividing the US into regions.

● As we can see from the TreeMap - ​Eggs, Vegetables, Baked Goods​ and ​Jams
are the most sold commodities.

● Wine​ and ​Grains​ are sold the least across the US.

● North​ ​Central​ and ​South​ US sell a little more than ​West​ and ​Northeast​ US.

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We can also visualize this using a Radial Bar Chart.

Here we can see the individual product share more clearly.

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Analysis of Seasonal Data

What time of the year do these markets take place? Do they show any type
of Seasonality?

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From the line plot we can clearly see that:

● Most Farmer Markets are held during the late spring - summer (Season 3),
between early April to July.

● Season 1 and Season 2 overlap a little (From Jan to April) with moderate number
of markets.

● Very few number of Markets are held during Season 4 (Sept - Dec). This may be
primarily due to the winter season.

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Additional Insights

FMPP
One of the ​USDA​ grant programs supporting this movement is the ​Farmers Market
Promotion Program (FMPP)​, administered by USDA’s ​Agricultural Marketing Service
(AMS)​. The program awards competitive grants, with the goal of expanding access to
locally produced agriculture products and developing new market opportunities for
farms and ranches participating in direct farmer-to-consumer marketing. Since 2006,
FMPP has helped communities establish farmers markets, ​community supported
agriculture (CSA)​ enterprises, road-side stands, and agritourism in all 50 States and
U.S. territories. All project proposals must demonstrate community support and directly
benefit farmers and ranchers.

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​USDA FMPP 2016 Highlights

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Conclusion

Conclusions drawn from the given data

● Farmer Markets in the US are evenly distributed across all the four major regions
of the US. Some states do have more markets than others.

● Most of these markets are held in local government buildings and parking lots.

● These markets make an extensive use of digital media to reach their customers
with more than 50% of the market using a website.

● Although Credit is the most used payment type, government driven programs like
SNAP​, ​SFMNP​ and ​WIC​ are all widely used.

● These markets sell varying types of products from edible commodities like
vegetables, jams and fruits to health and sanitation commodities like soap.

● Most of these markets start in late spring or early summer.

Conclusions drawn from additional sources

● Farmer Markets in the US have experienced significant growth under the policies
of the USDA.

● Government schemes like the ​Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP)​ have
led to an increase in the funding of these markets year on year.

● Other USDA programs like the ​Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

(SNAP)​ and the ​Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) ​have also
delivered grants and funds to these markets making the products easily
accessible to women, children and senior citizens.

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References

1. https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/FMPP2016Highlights.pdf
2. https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/FMPP2016Report.pdf
3. https://www.fns.usda.gov/sfmnp/senior-farmers-market-nutrition-program
4. https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program
5. https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic
6. https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/local-regional/farmers-markets-and-direct-co
nsumer-marketing

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