Health

ELGIN, TEXAS – The Texas Center for Local Food today announced a new project to promote the use of SNAP benefits at farmers markets in Texas.  

SNAP benefit recipients can use their SNAP cards to buy fresh, local food at farmers markets. But many recipients don’t know that – and farmers markets face multiple hurdles to accepting SNAP. 

In FY2020, Texas ranked 47th out of the 50 US states in SNAP sales at farmers markets. “Farmers markets are a critical link in the local food system, and lower-income families have access to fresh, local food — but too many don’t know it — yet!” said Sue Beckwith, Executive Director of the Texas Center for Local Food. Our new project will get more Texas-grown, farm fresh produce onto SNAP recipients’ tables.”

Promotion alone won’t increase sales to SNAP recipients. Farmers markets also need help setting up and using the equipment for SNAP processing. “The equipment required to process SNAP is different from normal card processing equipment. It requires its own setup and specialized training,” said Susie Marshall, Executive Director of Grow North Texas, a SNAP-ED project partner. “We provide technical assistance to help farmers markets adopt and use the equipment.”

family shopping at farmers market

Digital images are free for non-commercial, non-profit use. They are provided by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The 1-year grant of $439,951 is awarded and administered by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission using funds allocated to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service as part of the Farm Bill.

Another hurdle for farmers markets accepting SNAP are the costs of the equipment and processing. The Texas Center for Local Food also works to help farmers markets offset farmers markets costs not paid for by this grant costs using funds contributed by TCLF members. To become a member, or find out how to participate, please visit TexasLocalFood.org/Join-Us

The Texas Center for Local Food, based in Elgin, Texas, was created in 2016 by small farmers and ranchers to strengthen the economic viability of Texas communities and family farms through making the local food system economically stronger. For more information, visit TexasLocalFood.org or contact Sue Beckwith at sueb@TexasLocalFood.org.

Data Points & Sources

Based on FY 2020 & FY 2019:

  • On average 12.4% of Texans receive SNAP every month (1.6 million families).
  • Each month over $400 million dollars in SNAP payments are made in Texas.
  • The precentage of SNAP benefits redeemed at farmers’ markets is almost 0 (0.003%), ranking Texas 47th in the country.
  1. https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap
  2. https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/
  3. https://www.hhs.texas.gov/about-hhs/records-statistics/data-statistics/supplemental-nutritional-assistance-program-snap-statistics

 Sources

  • Family purchases food at a local farmers market. Credit (not required): Photo courtesy USDA SNAP-ED.  Digital images are free for non-commercial, non-profit use. They are provided by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

It’s not just violence and poverty that Central Americans are fleeing. It’s also climate change. In this NY Times article, you’ll read about how the temp in Central America has increased 2 degrees F, how the rains are off schedule, and how coffee won’t grow in the heat like it has for so many years. Farmers are heading north.

In 2017 the World Bank reported that climate change could cause 1.4M people from Mexico and Central America to migrate north. Agriculture in Honduras employs 28% of the labor force. With so many farmers and farm workers leaving, now there’s a farm labor shortage in Honduras.

The U.S. provides aid to Honduras and other Central American countries. The U.S. President has proposed to cut off all aid, apparently believing the lack of funds will prevent migration. It appears that exactly the opposite will happen: cutting off U.S. aid will only make the situation more desperate for Central American farmers.

The American Medical Association released a study in 2018 showing a 25% drop in cancer diagnoses for people who eat organic. This could be a big win for Texas organic farmers. How will we get this information to consumers? In Texas we rely mostly on private companies and the Texas Department of Agriculture to market Texas-grown organic foods. Is this enough? Leave comments to share your thoughts on how we could market Texas organics!

Here is a good summary article from New Hope Network on the impact of this research.

U.S. household food purchasing is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions – about 16% of total U.S. emissions in 2013. Households with higher incomes contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions. This report is summarized on the site of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and published in the Journal of Food Policy in August 2018.

Actions you could take to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions: eat a little less meat, eat food grown closer to home, waste less food.

This article on Medium includes some good tips on planning and holding a successful public community meeting on food security.

1 – Do we really need another meeting?

2 – Curate!

3 – Comfort zone

4 – Fun.. intentionally

5 – Inspire

6 – Make space for networking and informal learning

 

Self-care is an important, and often overlooked, aspect of food system sustainability. Join our friend, Dr. Naya Jones, tomorrow from 5-6pm at the SAC Ballroom on UT Campus as she explores the topic self-care through a personal, interpersonal, and collective lens. Free T-shirts and food while supplies last!

Details:

Tuesday, September 25 from 5pm to 6pm

Student Activity Center (SAC), Ballroom North 2.410

2201 Speedway, Austin, Tx 78712

https://calendar.utexas.edu/event/suicide_prevention_week_-_get_rooted_reimagining_self-care_keynote_with_naya_jones#.W6kVfRNKg_U