These Hands Feed You

1.) We promote small businesses by providing a weekly outlet where they can have a
weekly "store front" to sell locally-grown farm products at a reasonable price. We also
support home food producers, and artisan vendors.
2.) We bring fresh foods and other locally-produced products to the local community,
including foods that shoppers cannot find in local stores.
3.) We are a business incubator. Some of our vendors move on to open their own brick-
and-mortar businesses or are able to get their products in local (or beyond) stores.
4.) We assist those who have food insecurity, by doubling their SNAP benefits —
sometimes, including during COVID, we do far more than double benefits.
5.) We help support our community, including our vendors as well as other local non-
profits, by donating baskets of product and/or gift certificates to help with their
fundraisers.
Organization’s Mission Statement
The mission of the Salem NH Farmers Market is to provide communities with a wide variety of
fresh, local, and specialty foods, goods and products. Through community involvement, we
strive to educate all about the nutritional, economic, environmental and social implications of
eating seasonally and locally.
What Salem NH Farmers Market does for our Community
Because of generous donations, we have been able to waive table fees, and provide our
vendors with product marketing and a physical location at no fee during the pandemic. Salem
NH Farmers Market always absorbs credit card fees and provides on-site market management
with a small paid staff and assistance from volunteers.
Nutritious food for all is our goal and to that end we serve SNAP customers and increase their
buying power with a 1 to 1 match through our EBT Benefit Program. In 2019, we enabled the
purchase of $11,378 of fresh food to EBT customers by doubling/tripling the value of their
charges to their EBT debit card. When EBT/SNAP token sales were temporarily halted due to
COVID-19 transmission issues, we used operating capital to fund a free voucher program that
gave $50 to each EBT customer who had a valid benefit card.
In addition to SNAP benefits, Salm NH Farmers Market has also purchased foods from our
vendors and donated this food to Salem High Schools Culinary Arts Program, for their annual
Christmas dinner, delivered by Meals on Wheels.
We also partner with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Salem, donating baskets to their annual
auction, and donations for their Thanksgiving baskets. For the baskets, we purchase from our
vendors 180+ pounds of potatoes, 36+ pounds of carrots and more, to go to 36 families in need.
We also give each of those 36 families a $100 gift certificate to shop at the Market.
We continue to look for ways to serve the community while helping our market vendors.
Recently we have been running coupons in local newspapers and special events where we give
$5.00 to shop at the market. This helps the local community as well as our vendors.
The Market During COVID-19

Salem NH Farmers Market serves the Greater Salem area. Many New Hampshire farmers
markets close for the winter, but Salem NH Farmers Market is one of the few farmers’ markets
that have been able to remain open as a year-round market.
Salem NH Farmers Market serves an average of 400 customers per week in the summer, up to
600+ at the peak, and slightly less during the winter. Over the past 11 years, our market has
supported over 120 farmers and vendors. We have helped over 20 vendors establish product
identification and develop a customer base that led to their products being sold in brick-and-
mortar stores or opening their own store front location. Several of our vendors are
refugees/immigrants, and some of our vendors are very low income. Many of our vendors are
dependent on farmers’ markets to survive.
Most NH Farmers Markets who were open in March 2020 closed down temporarily or
permanently due to COVID-19 operation limitations and site restrictions. Salem NH Farmers
Markets was one of the few that have been able to stay open during the pandemic. Farmers’
markets have been considered to be essential businesses … necessary due to an increased
customer base who were buying short supply items like milk, eggs, meat and bread.
Because of the pandemic, Salem NH Farmers Market moved our winter market outside in
March. We then moved earlier than planned to our summer location at Salem Market Place, 224
North Broadway in Salem. This insured no interruption in income for our farmers/vendors who
depend on markets to maintain their retail sales.
Members of our Board of Directors have worked with other Farmers Markets across the country,
looking for ideas on how to make our market safe during the pandemic. Local farmers’ markets
turn to Salem NH Farmers Market as a model of how to operate during these challenging times.