The Farmer’s Market of Bluffton led all South Carolina markets in a contest to name the nation’s top farmer’s markets.

Rounding out South Carolina’s top five were: Hub City Farmers Market in Spartanburg; Farmers Market at the Filling Station in Anderson; Anderson County Farmers Market; and Charleston Farmers Market. 

American Farmland Trust puts on the online contest each year to highlight the role that such markets play in keeping family farmers on their land.

The Bluffton farm is open on Thursday afternoons for most of the year.

Quite a few new farmers markets opened in South Carolina this summer, including the Farmers Market at the Filling Station. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the number of farmers markets has increased by 9.6 percent over the past year, from 7,175 markets in 2011 to 7,864 in 2012.