Dubbed the Great American Farmers’ Market, the event featured around 60 tents, plus sponsor booths with free swag from Chobani, Tractor Supply, John Deere, and Visa. In April, the Trump administration first allowed corporations to sponsor the White House Easter Egg Roll, prompting ethics concerns about the potential for influence peddling.
At the event, farmers and food producers from Georgia, New Mexico, Minnesota, Maine, and elsewhere sold jerky, popcorn, rice, and more. Unlike at a typical farmers’ market, a smaller group of vendors sold produce, dairy products, and meat, since those vendors had to be located close enough to transport fresh items.
Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Great American Farmers’ Market. (Photo credit: Tom Witham, USDA)
“We have assembled this crowd as a national celebration of local products and as a testament to the self-sacrifice and patriotism that have been exhibited by American farming families for generations,” Rollins said in an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Examiner.
When the USDA announced the Great American Farmers Market, it replaced a page on the agency’s website that used to host information about the USDA’s weekly farmers’ market, which for more than 30 years was held every Friday from May to October. Local farms had already applied to sell at that market this spring, but it never opened.
