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SNAP/Food Stamps: Local Farmers Market EBT Card Rules Allow Good Food Choices For A Healthy Diet Plan

By Skinner Bachs
Published on: 06:29 PST, May 29, 2016

Local farmers markets are a resource for good food choices for more families thanks to the expanded acceptance of relief programs. Participants in programs such as SNAP, WIC, and EBT were formerly limited to what was offered by brick and mortar retailers. Now, they can benefit from the variety of good food offered by local farmers.

Many Local Farmers Markets Have Been Involved With The Voucher System For Almost A Decade

While this is not a new development, it is still one that has a lot of room for expansion in the burgeoning farmers market movement. Approval for funding the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program voucher system was ratified by congress in 2012. The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012 provided 4 million dollars toward the implementation of voucher systems and electronic readers, as well as a financial kickstart for markets who would offer limited matching funds to recipients who participated in the voucher program.

Farmers markets first started accepting EBT/SNAP vouchers in 2008. There were roughly 750 markets and direct sales farmer/producers accepting SNAP at the time. That number quadrupled in 2012, with over 3,200 farmers markets and direct sales producers plugging in to the system and thus widening their customer base.

Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon sees the voucher system as beneficial to farmers and SNAP recipients.

“These grants increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables to SNAP customers and further encourage them to purchase and prepare healthy foods for their families using SNAP benefits. In general, research shows that about 20 cents of every SNAP dollar spent on food ends up in the pocket of American farmers. Installing wireless technology at farmers markets expands the customer base for markets and increases the share of the SNAP dollar that goes directly back to local farmers and into local economies.”

More Good Food Choices Put Nutrition Back Into The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Social workers and community center counselors cite the high costs of fresh produce as one of the main reasons many families who receive supplemental aid do not follow the USDA guidelines for sounder nutritional practices. Carolyn Smith-Donaldson, an early childhood educator who works with at-risk populations, notes that parents have to make hard choices in order to make their SNAP dollars go farther.

“When you are trying to choose between a bag of apples or a carton of strawberries that costs three to five dollars and a box of macaroni and cheese that might be three for a dollar on sale, it’s easy to see why parents make the choices they do. It’s about battling hunger. Beyond that, for many families, healthy or not, organic or conventional, those are luxuries they can’t afford to consider.”

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Life Gets Tastier With Good Food Choices For More Families In East Nashville

One of the early adopters of the voucher system in Tennessee was the East Nashville Farmers Market. The first such program in the city served as a good test case for a successful voucher system. The ENFM offers matching funds, up to $20, for SNAP participants and special incentives for those wishing to buy vouchers instead of bringing cash or using their debit or credit cards at each stall. Because there is no visible difference in the vouchers that are purchased by shoppers wishing to take advantage of occasional specials and the relative safety of keeping their cards in their wallets and assistance vouchers, there is the psychological advantage of a leveled playing field. Money goes back to being essentially one color, and SNAP recipients have some respite from the stigma attached to using public assistance to purchase food.

There are still gaps in the program, but figures released by the USDA and reports from the field by social workers indicate that more families are finding that more choices for good, locally produced food at farmers markets are now within reach.

[Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images]

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