Cache Valley Farmer’s Market hosted its second annual Farm to Table Banquet on Saturday in Logan as a way to celebrate the county’s local food and farmers.
Mary Laine, the Cache Valley Gardener's Market Manager, said this is the second consecutive year this event has been held.
“This banquet is my madness,” she said.
Laine said all of the food was donated by local farmers, bakeries and cafes.
“So many of these people are doing this because they love it and out of the goodness of their hearts,” she said.
Cache Valley Farmer’s Market is just one of the 8,000 farmer's markets across the nation. Larry Lewis, with the Utah department of Agriculture and Food, said the rising number of farmers markets in the United State rose 76 percent between 2008 to 2014.
“Utah has an estimated 18,000 farms and 1,800 of those sell directly to the consumer,” he said. “This means 10 percent of Utah’s farms interact directly with buyer, which is higher than the national average of 7 percent.”
Lewis said it is essential for Utah’s economy that we have both big and small farms.
“Five percent of big farms across the country produce 75 percent of the food we eat,” he said. “And 95 percent of the farms produce 25 percent of the food we eat.”