VIDALIA — The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Edward Schafer, has declared this week National Farmer’s Market Week.

Nationwide, there is a growing enthusiasm for local foods, and the proclamation’s stated goal was “development, operation, and expansion of farmers markets and other direct-to-consumer marketing activities for agricultural producers.”

And that is something Helen Brooks, the market manager and coordinator for the Alcorn State University’s extension program would like to see.

“We have peaches, blueberries, fresh butterbeans and lots of other produce,” Brooks said. “All of those consumers can find it at the grocery store, but we have them here.”

The market is a seasonal market — in other words, only what local producers can grow right then, what is in season, is what will be sold at the market.

“This is strictly for local growers to have somewhere to sell their first produce,” Brooks said.

Another benefit of the local market is that it can offer produce stores can’t.

“We have watermelons we sell called ‘Sugarbabies’ that they can’t put in stores because their skins are too thin for stacking,” Brooks said.

Because there are no middlemen and shipping costs associated with farmers markets, they are able to keep prices low.

“When people shop (at the farmer’s market), they are putting their money right back into the local economy,” Brooks said.

The downside to a seasonal market or roadside vegetable stand is that it will have less and less produce to offer as the seasons change from warm to cold.

That is where producers may turn to products they have rendered from fruit or produce.

“(They) can offer things like muscidine jelly or other unique things you can’t find in the store,” Brooks said.

The Alcorn farmer’s market is located at the Main Street Market, and is open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.