The Department of Agriculture is promoting more than two dozen vendors at this week’s Great American Farmers Market on the National Mall.
When they return to markets back home, a contradictory message awaits: Don’t count too much on the USDA.
As the Trump administration celebrates farmers at the weeklong event — complete with bands and daily appearances by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and other Cabinet members — it’s also advocating for a little less direct support to local farmers markets around the country.
Helping to pay for farmers markets should be a local, not federal, responsibility, the administration told Congress in its budget request for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, although the department encouraged the public to visit such markets in promotional material for the event on the National Mall.
