The Carrboro Farmers' Market and Chapel Hill's South Estes Farmers' Market will join markets in Durham and Wake counties Saturday in an effort to raise more than 4,000 pounds of fresh local food for hungry Triangle residents.

The Triangle Farmer Foodshare Challenge will be held Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the Carrboro and South Estes markets, as well as the Durham Farmers' Market and the Western Wake Farmers' Market in Cary.

Each market will sponsor a Farmer Foodshare Donation Station where shoppers can stop by and either donate cash to buy food from the farmers or buy their own farm fresh food and donate it directly.

Each market hopes to collect 1,000 pounds of food. The event will also feature activities for kids, locally grown seasonal produce, grass-fed meats, eggs, artisanal pastries, breads and desserts, and other events.

"The Carrboro Farmers Market is very excited to see the Farmer FoodShare program spread throughout our area," said Sarah Blacklin, manager of the Carrboro Farmers' Market. "We look forward to working with our sister farmers markets to grow food access in our larger community."

Each farmers' market will donate to local charities, including the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, TABLE Ministries, Urban Ministries, as well as local senior centers and churches that feed the hungry in each community.

Volunteers from each market, as well as UNC's Fair.Local.Organic. student organization and the Society of St. Andrew will help to collect the food.

The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle will provide support for food pickup and delivery at all the participating markets and help to ensure that the food goes to recipients who can use it immediately.

Anyone who cannot shop the markets on Saturday is invited to donate online at The Abundance Foundation's web site, theabundancefoundation.org/farmer-foodshare. Volunteers will buy market foods for the Challenge with donated funds.

Between 2002 and 2007, North Carolina lost 164 farms and over 500,000 acres of farmland; the percentage of farms reporting net losses grew from 54 percent to 58 percent.

Local markets, by contrast, are a growing industry. The value of direct sales to consumers by North Carolina farmers increased almost 60 percent from 2002 to 2007, and the number of farms selling directly to consumers increased by 21 percent.

"Farmers' markets are one of the most direct ways that North Carolina citizens can support their local farmers," said Freda Butner, nutrition marketing specialist with the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

The Carrboro Farmers' Market, now in its 32nd season, is located at the Carrboro Town Commons at 301 W. Main St., the market is open Saturday mornings year round and Wednesday afternoons from April 14 through late November.

The South Estes Farmers' Market is held in the Southern Season parking lot at University Mall, 201 S. Estes Dr. It is open Saturday mornings year-round and Tuesday afternoons from May to November.