How Farmers Markets Dodged a Regulatory Bullet in Pennsylvania

The Keystone State's boom in farmers markets might have gone bust.

Consumer interest in farmers markets has exploded across the state of Pennsylvania in recent years. According to the USDA, there are more than 250 farmers markets in the state—about two-dozen of which are located in Philadelphia. Yet in spite of these great numbers, writes Baylen Linnekin, Emily Broad Leib, and Nathan Rosenberg, Pennsylvanians should be grateful to have access to any farmers markets at all this year. That's because the direct-to-consumer bounty farmers provide might have all but disappeared on account of an ill-conceived state law. Thankfully, Linnekin and his co-authors write, farmers and consumers dodged the regulatory bullet.