Childhood Hunger

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Summary:

Farm-grown produce, freshly picked by those who nurture crops from their start as seeds and then sold directly to consumers at farmers’ markets in New Jersey, is now available to those using debit cards that are part of the food stamp program. It’s the smartest use of federal funds we’ve heard of in a cow’s age.

July 15

Fresh approach to food stamps

Asbury Park Press (New York, New York)
Author not mentioned
July 14, 2009

New Jersey this month joined a number of other states that have linked food stamp clients to farmers selling at a variety of farmers’ markets through the use of the “Families First Electronic Benefits Transfer” debit card. A farmer with the proper wireless transmitting machine at his or her stall at a market simply swipes the debit card to complete the transaction. That’s all there is to it. Except for a bushel of benefits, all around.

One of the traditional fears about food stamps is that too often they are used for the purchase of less-than-nutritious items at supermarkets and convenience stores. With food stamps a currency at direct-from-the-farm markets in New Jersey, clients can broaden their buying spectrum — and reduce the incidences of trans-fat-laden products making up too high a percentage of their diets. Fact is, there aren’t a lot of junk foods sold at the stalls of farmers who have picked string beans and corn, peaches and tomatoes, and lettuces and kale that morning.

The new farmers’ market link also will help expand the state’s agriculture industry. When word spread that New York state farmers in the food stamp debit card program were seeing their market business soar as much as 60 percent, Millstone farmer George Asprocolas quickly signed up for the Jersey program. He’s one of 15 Garden State farmers who have equipped themselves with the debit-accepting machines and is doing business with food stamp clients at farmers markets in both his hometown and in South Toms River. “This is going to be a whole new opportunity,” he said.

“Certainly…more (farmers) will want to come on,” added state Agriculture Secretary Douglas H. Fisher.

We hope so. Right now, select farmers accepting the food stamp debit card will be selling at the Asbury Park Farmers’ Market, the Englishtown Auction and the Millstone Township Community Market in Monmouth County. In Ocean County, farmers with the food stamp debit card machine can be found at the Forked River Farmers’ Market, the Seaside Park Farmers’ Market, at farmers’ markets in Toms River and South Toms River, and at the Manahawkin Mart in Stafford.

If farmers play their cards right, they might be able to use their new clients to spread the word that shopping not only at local farmers’ markets but at farmstands is the most economical way to purchase Jersey Fresh produce. Seeds of change can sprout quickly, when properly nurtured.

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