{"word_count": 107, "character_count": 729}
      The popularity of local foods has increased significantly in the last few decades, pushed along in recent years by a heightened interest of consumers in buying local and sustainably-grown foods. From 1997 to 2007 direct-to-consumer food marketing grew by 104.7 percent while total agricultural sales increased by only 47.6 percent. (Diamond and Soto, 2009). According to a recent report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 163,675 farmers sold an estimated $6.1 billion in locally marketed foods in 2012. In 2014, there were 8,628 farmers markets operating across the nation, which represents a 180 percent growth in the number of markets since 2006 (Low et al, 2015).Tags:                agriculture_urbaine            