Attendees from 35 states + DC attended the 2026 Farm Stop Conference!

The Farm Stops Conference brought together 31 speakers from across the country to share practical strategies and visionary leadership for strengthening local food systems through the farm stop model. Keynote presenters Mark Winne and Stacey Abrams set the stage by discussing the role of community-driven businesses in revitalizing local economies and expanding market access for small farmers. Sessions highlighted proven approaches to launching and scaling farm stops, retail operations, merchandising, producer onboarding, financing, governance structures, and replication models. Leaders such as Kathy Sample and Bill Brinkerhoff shared lessons from building successful farm stop locations, while Kathryn Barr and Casey Miller offered insight into training and expansion efforts nationwide.

Throughout the conference, speakers emphasized how farm stops directly support local food by creating consistent, year-round retail outlets for regional producers. By aggregating products, handling marketing, and streamlining sales, the model allows farmers to focus on production while growing their customer base and revenue. Together, these speakers demonstrated how farm stops serve as powerful hubs for farmer viability, healthy food access, and resilient local economies.

Dr. Amanda Philyaw Perez shared insights into how Food Freedom Laws are sweeping the nation, the role and importance of the land-grant institution in educating farm stop stakeholders, and how rural local food retailers are developing in Arkansas and nationally, rapidly.

Our team will share takeaways and highlights from sessions in next month's newsletter. Learn more at: https://www.farmstops.net/

Federal Grant Program for Farm Stops and Local Foods

USDA

USDA is a huge department with multiple independent agencies but the two that farm stops should become familiar with are Rural Development (RD) and the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). Both agencies provide information on former grantees so get a sense of the type of work their various programs have funded.

Grants & Opportunities | Agricultural Marketing Service

Rural Development (RD)

RD funds a range of services in rural America but farm stops should focus on the agency’s business, cooperative, and community facilities programs. Most RD programs are either run directly by the individual state RD offices or pass through those offices before national review so it’s a good idea to meet the RD staff and leadership in your state.

All Programs | Rural Development

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) is officially a USDA program but is run by The Reinvestment Fund. HFFI provides grants, loans, and technical assistance for food retail in underserved areas and for supply chain projects serving food retail. HFFI’s Partnership Program distributed funding to organizations serving 20 states to offer on-the-ground technical assistance, grants, and loans. The Reinvestment Fund will also release a request for proposals in the next several months for direct grants and loans.

Healthy Food Financing Initiative | Rural Development

Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)

AMS has two grant programs that should be interesting to farm stops. Both programs will announce funding availability this spring.

AMS Program-Specific Resources | Agricultural Marketing Service

Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) – provides grants to support the development of direct producer-to-consumer markets. This program is focused on traditional farmers’ markets rather than brick and mortar retail but can be a useful resource to identify previously funded markets in your region and/or to learn about interesting models.

Farmers Market Promotion Program | Agricultural Marketing Service

Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) – can be a perfect fit for farm stops and at least one has received an LFPP grant. LFPP funds a range of businesses that connect local and regional producers with markets.

Local Food Promotion Program | Agricultural Marketing Service

Be a reviewer! The best way to learn about AMS grants is to be a reviewer. It’s time consuming but worth the investment to learn how the process works and what reviewers and AMS grant staff are looking for in applications.

*Recommended resources following the 2026 Farm Stop Conference.

2025 National Food Hub Survey Findings

100 US food hubs in 27 states participated in the 2025 survey with findings showing: 

• Food hubs support farmers, surveyed hubs purchased from an average of 49 farms with 85% of hub purchases being from small to mid-sized farmers. 

• Food hubs want farmers to succeed, and people and economies to thrive, reporting food hubs value local food sourcing, farmer viability, and regional food systems resiliency the most.

•  Hubs see growth opportunities ahead, meaning more markets for farmers, reporting increased sales across multiple market channels including direct markets (60%), restaurant and bakery markets (55%), K-12 school food service markets (52%), small retail markets (49%), and colleges and universities markets (37%), among other opportunities.

Food hub networks exist across the country and serve individual food hubs through collaboration and learning to meet food hubs’ goals. The results of this survey were shared with members of the National Food Hub Network Community of Practice (CoP), an organized national “network of food hub networks,” who shared ideas on how the results of this survey and their own experience working with the food hub sector can inform support for hubs. 

Learn more here: 2026 Food Hub Survey Results