Update: The farm stand has been cancelled
Ed. Note: The message below is from Stefan Templeton, Senior Market Manager for the Van Nesss Farmers Market & Bertie Backus Farm Stand. The application form linked in the message below references April 2022 Van Ness Market deadlines and fees. Interested vendors for the Bertie Backus Farm Stand should still complete the application form. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Questions may be directed to vannessfarmersmarket@udc.edu.
By R. Stefan Templeton
Firstly, on behalf of UDC’s College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES), I would like to apologize for the cancellation of the Bertie Backus Farmers Market on the past two Saturdays, July 30 and August 6. Frankly, we have been searching for a reliable produce vendor to commit to servicing the market after 11th-hour cancellations by produce vendors.
We are very pleased to announce that Gray Lane Farms, a local woman & minority-owned farm has committed to maintaining the produce stand starting August 27 going forward until November 26. I should note that Gray Lane has been certified as a Produce Plus provider and will be able to accept DC’s Produce Plus cards.
We humbly request that community members come out to support our endeavor to bring quality produce and local vendors every Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at UDC’s Bertie Backus campus located at 5171 South Dakota Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20017 (near the Fort Totten Metro station on the Red, Yellow, and Green lines).
In the interim period of the next 2 weeks, we will be working to collaborate with community members to better market this reopening. We have reached out to the local ANC members and hope to promote this opportunity to all comers.
Please note that any community members who are interested in becoming vendors, may complete the application here. We are actively recruiting vendors for the remainder of this season and for the next season of 2023. Please feel free to email me any questions or comments. We look forward to seeing you at the market.
Next Stop...Riggs Park 
Thanks for the update. Do you know if there’s an official place to get news about the farm stand? It’s strange I couldn’t find anything about the cancellations in person or online.
Hi there, nothing specific to the farm stand that I am aware of (the event is listed on the university calendar, which was not updated when the market was cancelled and has not been updated to reflect this pause). I encourage you to email your question to Stefan Templeton at vannessfarmersmarket@udc.edu.