"Bring it on!" said Woodcroft homeowner Ann Deupree.

"We're excited, the farmers are excited, the consumers are excited," said Michael Lanier, an Orange County Extension agent helping organize the market. "There's a lot of potential to expand in Durham County."

Expansion - of agriculture - is a main reason for expanding markets, Lanier said. "There are more farmers than there are places for them to sell."

Along with consumer and restaurateur demand for fresh, local farm products, the Triangle is undergoing a revival of interest in farming. According to the most recent federal Census of Agriculture, from 1997 to 2007 the number of full-time farmers rose from 74 to 118 in Durham County, and from 243 to 263 in Orange.

Both counties have working programs to encourage and train those with the urge to start working the land, as well as to preserve land for them to work in.

The Durham County Farmland Protection Advisory Board and the Durham and Orange county Extension offices are organizing the south-Durham market.

Farmland Board Chairwoman Kathryn Spann said a new farmers' market was a high board priority this year.

"It's kind of an essential incubator for new producers," said Spann, a new farmer herself.

Established farmers' markets, such as those in downtown Durham and Carrboro, have all the vendors they can handle already, and aren't taking applications for more, Spann said. Durham Extension agent Michael Dupree said about 45 growers have expressed interest in taking places at a south Durham market.

The market doesn't have a site yet, but Spann said it most likely will be in the area of Woodcroft and Southpoint Mall.

Southern Durham County is a promising area for a farmers' market, with easy highway access and a large population.

"A population that has a lot of the hallmarks for folks who you'd expect to shop at a farmers' market," Spann said. "Interested in healthy and active lifestyles."

For that population, though, it's a long trip to shop in central Durham, Carrboro and other towns around the region.

"It would be much more convenient to have (a market) closer to our house in Woodcroft," said homeowner Scott Carter, "ideally that we could walk or ride our bikes to."

Ann Deupree is a member of a group called South Durham Green Neighbors. She said she started an Internet group to share information about the proposed market and 46 people joined it in the first month.

When Green Neighbors held an information meeting in November, about 40 prospective customers showed up.

"Nice attendance for a market that doesn't exist yet," Spann said.

Because the Durham Farmland Board is an organizer, Durham County residents will get special treatment, Spann said.

Vending space will be open to all, but the board of directors will have a Durham majority with an explicit voting role for "the surrounding shopping community."

Spann said the market will probably have around 30 vendor stalls, but could accommodate 50 or 60 farmers because there are provisions for sharing space among several growers who may have crops ready at different times or don't grow enough to take to market every day it's open.

"I love the idea of a farmers' market in south Durham," said Fairfield resident Melissa Rooney.

"We are quickly being usurped by suburban sprawl, but very many of those who live in these suburban neighborhoods still believe in sustainability and want to support local farming," said Rooney.

Resident Steve Bocckino said he has shopped at the Carrboro market for 20 years, and, "I have no doubt that a market in our neck of the woods will do very well, given a little time."