FARMA
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The National Farmers' Retail & Markets Association has been active in one guise or another since 1979 - starting out as the Farm Shop & Pick Your Own Association, and renaming in 1994 to the Farm Retail Association (FRA). The FRA was a founder member of the National Association of Farmers' Markets in 1999, and in 2003 members from both FRA and NAFM voted for the merger of the two organisations to form FARMA, representing all aspects of local food, on-farm production, and sale of fresh farm products direct to the public through farmers' markets, farm shops, pick your own farms, home delivery, on-farm entertainment and other diverse methods of farm retailing.
In its 25+ years of experience, the association has pushed at the forefront of local foods, and farm direct sales, and encouraged best practice retailing amongst its members. FARMA continue to strive for excellence and push boundaries across the sector today with training schemes, Certification for Farm Shops and Farmers' Markets, networking, and leadership for the sector.
FARMA is a subscription-based not-for-profit co-operative owned by the members. While having limited resources for issues such as political networking and the like, the role of FARMA is essential in providing a framework for the sector to grow and a benchmarking standard for consumer reassurance, as well as supporting the members on a day-to-day basis.
www.farma.org.uk