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This formative research informed educational opportunities for a FL curriculum, which holds promise for improving food-based education and programs, designing more effective interventions, and developing measurement tools.

Recent increases in consumer demand for local food have resulted in more opportunities for food to be purchased in close proximity to where it is produced. However, local markets can be challenging retail outlets for farmers and not uniformly affordable and accessible to all consumers. Farmers market nutrition incentive (FMNI) and farm to school (F2S) programs are two community-based initiatives that support farmers while simultaneously lessening the burden of local food access for lower income populations. In this study, we explore farmer perceptions, barriers to adoption, and impacts of FMNI and F2S programs. A survey was developed based on the Diffusion of Innovations theory to assess (1) the key factors that influence adoption of FMNI and F2S programs; (2) farmer perceptions of the most significant barriers to program adoption; and (3) the influence of noneconomic impacts on farmers' motivation to participate in those programs. A total of 155 Mid-Atlantic fruit and vegetable farmers completed the

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