Editor’s note: This article is by Howard Weiss-Tisman
of the Brattleboro Reformer in which it was first published April 14, 2015.
[B]RATTLEBORO — Customers who use the EBT coupons at farmers’ markets will have greater access to local, healthy food this year thanks to a USDA grant that was awarded to NOFA-VT recently.
NOFA-VT was included in a $31.5 million national grant that will go out to support nutrition programs across the U.S.
About $227,000 will be used in Vermont to support the EBT coupon program, which allows people who receive 3SquaresVT benefits to use some of their monthly food stamp allotments at farmers’ markets.
Erin Buckwalter, community food security and direct marketing coordinator at NOFA, said the grant will be used to support the Harvest Health Coupon program, which doubles a portion of the EBT money spent at the markets.
The money, she said, is about twice what NOFA received last year, and so at farmers’ markets across Vermont, including in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls, and at the Brattleboro Winter Farmers’ Market, low-income customers will be able to receive about twice as much extra local fruits and vegetables than the program supported last year.
“The program lets customers turn $10 into $20,” Buckwalter said. “It supports local farms and gets healthy local food to more people.”
The USDA money was awarded to NOFA-VT through a collaboration the group has with Wholesome Wave, a national non-profit organization that helps low income consumers access more healthy and local foods.
Wholesome Wave received $3.77 million from USDA, of which the Vermont grant was allocated through NOFA-VT.
“We are thrilled to be working with such a diverse and competent group of incentive operators across the nation. This network brings together organizations ranging from a flourishing farmers market group to a large scale nonprofit, capitalizing on the grassroots expertise of community leaders, while also building regional and national impact that allows us to enact the kind of large-scale policy change we see in legislation like FINI,” says Wholesome Wave founder and CEO, Michel Nischan.
NOFA has been running the coupon program since 2008, and the number of people who use the program, and the dollars spent, have been steadily increasing each season. In 2013 the Brattleboro Farmers’ Market used about $600 in coupons and last year about $1,200 were transferred.
Buckwalter said this year the amount could rise to as high as $2,400.
About 40 Vermont markets now take part in the coupon program.
In past years NOFA has had to cap the program, but Buckwalter said the grant should be able to allow the group to set a higher cap, or no cap it at all, depending on how far the grant money goes.
“Most of the money people spend in Vermont through their EBT benefits goes to chain stores, so this grant means more of that money will stay local,” she said. “It incentivizes people to go to farmers’ markets, and it means farmers benefit through increased sales.” Buckwalter said NOFA-VT will be working with Vermont farmers’ market managers in the coming weeks to get the new coupons out and make sure low income customers know about the benefits program. “The program allows people to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables and it hopefully builds up relationships between the consumers and the farmers,” Buckwalter said. “The idea is that maybe they will then come back and get in the habit of shopping at the farmers’ market. Over a month a family can grow their food budget by $40 or $50, and for someone who is on a fixed income that can be significant.”
