The Farm Stop Conference:

Building Strong Retail Systems for Local Farmers and Local Food

Held March 1-3, 2024 • Ann Arbor, Michigan

“Farm Stops are year-round, every-day markets that support small-scale farmers and strengthen local and regional food systems. They do so most often by operating on a consignment model, which gives producers a fair price, flexibility with their time and products, and provides more direct connections with consumers.”

- Kathryn Barr, author of “How to Start a Farm Stop”

Join us for an exciting opportunity to learn about business operations and share best practices.

With about one dozen farm stops now successfully up and running, and several more approaching launch, we believe now is the perfect time to gather, learn from one another, share best practices, and envision the role we’d like to see farm stops play in our local food ecosystems. 


Whether you operate a farm stop already, or think that you may one day want to open one in your community, our goal is to provide content useful to you as you move forward. With that in mind, we are putting together an ambitious slate of local food thought leaders, and planning a full lineup of panels on everything from fundraising and marketing, to farm relations and merchandising, while also leaving plenty of time for networking. Here’s some of what we have planned. 

  • Contextualize the farm stop model’s potential role within national, regional, and state food systems with speakers USDA Under Secretary Jennifer Lester Moffitt, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Kate Fitzgerald (Senior Advisor for Food Systems, USDA), M. Jahi Johnson-Chappell (Director, Center for Regional Food Systems, Michigan State University), Paul Freedman (Director, Appalachia Regional Food Business Center), and Tim Boring (Director, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.)

  • Hear the first-hand story of Local Roots (Wooster, OH) – one of the stores that started the movement. Learn practical, hands-on tips on how to launch and run a successful farm stop from the teams at Argus Farm Stop (Ann Arbor, MI), Bloomington Farm Stop Collective (Bloomington, IN), Lakeshore Depot (Marquette, MI), and FARMacy Community Farmstop (Rock Hill, SC.)

  • Consider the role farm stops can play in food equity and access with a farm stop panel moderated by the Fair Food Network

  • Join us for panels on funding, merchandising, farm relations, store layout, opportunities for growth through diversification, overcoming barriers, and more.

While preference will be given to those either working at a farm stop, or in the process of launching a farm stop, we hope to have tickets available for journalists, academics, economic development professionals, and others interested in learning about the farm stop movement and the successes we’ve had to-date helping grow our local food economies and reinvigorate our regional farming communities. 

Tickets for the conference are sold out but you can join the waitlist here. 

The press release for the conference can be viewed here.

  • “We have been amazed at how well the farm stop model has worked in our community, and believe this model can turbocharge any community that has an existing farmers market.”

    - Bill Brinkerhoff, Argus Farm Stop

  • "[Farm stops] move a lot of produce and they really help farmers connect with consumers and they provide a valuable service."

    -Marc Mathy, Hindsight Farm

  • "The farm stop model creates a stable foothold for local farmers and community members to support a strong, interconnected, and impactful food system."

    -Rosie Estes, Argus Farm Stop

  • “Farm Stops are year-round, every-day markets that support small-scale farmers and strengthen local and regional food systems. They do so most often by operating on a consignment model, which gives producers a fair price, flexibility with their time and products, and provides more direct connections with consumers.”

    - Kathryn Barr, author of “How to Start a Farm Stop”

Thank you to our sponsors.