2026 America’s Farmers Market Celebration™ 
Eligibility Guidelines, Rules and Prizes

The 18th annual America’s Farmers Market Celebration™ will recognize the nation’s favorite markets in 2026. This year’s AFMC will run from August 1 - September 30, 2026. This outlines the eligibility requirements, rules, and contest prizes for American Farmland Trust’s 2026 America’s Farmers Market Celebration™ (hereby referred to as the “Celebration”). All voters and markets must adhere to these applicable rules and follow the guidelines here to claim prizes or have their votes counted.
 

Market Eligibility – To be eligible to participate in and receive awards or prizes as part of the Celebration, a market must meet the following requirements:

1. Provide a contact and an email address opted-in for AFMC and AFT communications.
    

2. Be listed in the USDA National Farmers Market Registry: https://www.usdalocalfoodportal.com/fe/fdirectory_farmersmarket/?source=fe&directory=farmersmarket&location=&x=&y=
   
   If you market is not yet listed within the USDA National Farmers Market Registry, you can sign up here: https://www.usdalocalfoodportal.com/mywp/signup/ 

   
   Please note, AFMC uses the USDA National Farmers Market Database on markets.farmland.org so if there are any updates to an existing market listing that a market needs to make, you must update those changes directly with the USDA.
    

3. If selected as a winning market, submit a Tax ID to AFT and allow the use of photos, quotes, logos, and other assets in the public promotion of the Celebration and in other AFT materials and communications.
    
4. Vote buying is strictly prohibited - Participants are reminded that any attempt to exchange goods, services, or other incentives in return for votes is expressly forbidden. This includes but is not limited to offering rewards, discounts, or any form of compensation for votes cast in favor of the participant offering such compensation in any contest or
   promotion hosted by American Farmland Trust.
    
5. Respectful Behavior - AFMC and AFT are committed to fostering a positive and inclusive environment for all participants in our contests and promotions. As such, any form of trolling, bullying, derogatory remarks, personal attacks, or other forms of harassment on social media platforms or otherwise will not be tolerated. This list is illustrative only and not exhaustive. If any participant, including markets or their supporters, engages in harassment or other inappropriate conduct on social media channels related to the contest, it should be promptly recorded and reported to AFT. Harassment, in any form, or other inappropriate conduct is grounds for immediate disqualification from the contest. AFT reserves the right to review reported incidents and take appropriate action, which may include disqualifying the offending participant or market from the contest and prohibiting their participation in future events.

Voter Eligibility – To be eligible to vote, participants agree to abide by these rules. AFT and its partners reserve the right to inspect, audit, and reject or nullify votes not in compliance with the rules, at its discretion:

1. To have your vote counted as an official vote in the Celebration, you must submit a vote by proving a name and an email address.
    
2. To have your vote counted as an official vote in the Celebration, you must vote at markets.farmland.org for an officially registered market.
    
3. Each person can cast one official vote during the America’s Farmers Market Celebration in 2025.
    
4. Evidence of multiple votes (or attempt to vote multiple times) with multiple email addresses for a market by ONE person are grounds for those votes being nullified, per AFT discretion.
    

Contest Rules – To be eligible to participate in and receive awards or prizes as part of the Celebration, all voters and markets must follow these rules:

1. To be eligible to participate in and receive awards or prizes as part of the Celebration, all voters and markets must follow these rules.
    
2. The 2026 Celebration will run between August 1 - September 30, 2026.
    
3. Voting takes place at markets.farmland.org and all voters must provide an email address and contact information to vote.
    
4. Voting begins on August 1, 2026, at 8 a.m. ET / 5 a.m. PT (or when the celebration is announced and the website is live, per AFT discretion). No votes cast before this time will be counted.
    
5. Voting will close promptly at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT on September 30, 2026 (or when the celebration is announced and the website is live, per AFT discretion). No votes cast after this time will be counted.
    
6. Votes are confirmed by AFT after all votes are counted. The results are subject to review and audit by AFT or by a third party, at AFT’s discretion.
    

Contest Awards – The celebration recognizes all markets but is also a competition. The awards will be distributed as follows:

1. Eligible markets will compete against other markets nationally, regionally (in one of five regions), and by state.
    
2. “People’s Choice” National Awards – The eligible market with the most official votes will be named the Celebration’s winner and identified as the “People’s Choice”. Additionally, the next nine top vote recipients nationally will be named the Celebration’s “People’s Choice” 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th place winners. The “People’s Choice” 1st place national winning market will not be eligible to win the “People’s Choice” top prize again for two years following the year they won. However, the winning market may participate in the Celebration in the following years and compete for the “Regional Choice” and “State Choice” Awards during that two-year period. Second-through tenth place nationally may compete for all prizes in the Celebration in the following year.
    
3. “Regional Choice” Awards – Five “Regional Choice” Awards will be made – each market with the most official votes in its region will be named winner or top market for that region (“Regional Choice” winner), per AFT discretion. The regions are: Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast. These markets may compete for all prizes in the Celebration in the following years.
    
4. “State Choice” Awards – Each market with the most official votes in its state will be named winner or top market for that state (“State Choice” winner). These markets may compete for all prizes in the Celebration in the following years.
    
    
5. Winners agree to provide AFT Tax ID information and allow the use of photos, quotes, logos, and other assets in the public promotion of the Celebration and in other AFT materials and communications.
    

Contest Prizes – AFT is pleased to offer a total of $15,000 in rewards designated towards marketing, communications, and other needs that help expand the market’s reach and impact.

Total Winners: 10 

1st Place (National Winner) $2,500 

2nd Place – $2,000 

3rd Place – $1,500 

4th Place – $1,250

5th Place – $1,000 

6th Place – $1,000 

7th Place – $1,000 

8th Place – $1,000 

9th Place – $875 

10th Place – $875 

The 1st place for “Regional Choice” and “State” winners for each region will receive a gift bag of merchandise and digital award package.