August 1, 2018
Page 9
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
Farmers Markets are a source of nutritious foods with locally grown fruits and vegetables and other products.
SNAP Saved at Farmers Markets
Food Bank helps keep low-income shoppers connected
Serving low income communi-
ty members is a labor of love for
farmers markets. But closure of a
widely-used Supplemental Nutri-
tion Assistance Program (SNAP)
processor had threatened access to
the markets for people using bene-
fits from their SNAP/Oregon Trail
cards.
But thanks to help from the Or-
egon Food Bank to cover costs of
the transition, the charitable arm
of Portland Farmers Market an-
nounced last week that SNAP re-
cipients will not be turned away
when shopping at Oregon farmers
markets.
Processing SNAP benefits
comes with federal restrictions
which demand meticulous re-
cord-keeping and out-of-pocket
costs for equipment and processing
fees. Recently, Novo Dia Group, a
financial transaction processor con-
tracted with 1,700 farmers markets
around the nation, made national
news when they announced their
closure as of Aug. 31. This left 20
Oregon farmers markets scram-
bling for a speedy replacement in
order to avoid turning SNAP shop-
pers away.
Solutions existed – but they had
some big costs for farmers mar-
kets, including set-up, per use and
monthly processing fees. Addition-
ally, capital costs for hardware can
run up to $900 per unit.
Since an alternative was needed
quickly and farmers markets are
low budget operations, the Oregon
Food Bank stepped-in to help by
committing up to $10,000 to assist
individual markets in determining
needs, purchasing hardware and
paying fees for their new SNAP
processing contracts.
“Oregon Food Bank believes
that no one should be hungry and
that everyone deserves healthy,
fresh food in order to thrive,” said
Oregon Food Bank Chief Exec-
utive Officer Susannah Morgan.
“These core organizational val-
ues made the decision to support
SNAP access at local farmers mar-
kets very straightforward. Farmers
markets help strengthen local food
systems and bring our wonderful-
ly varied communities together
– these are critical avenues to ad-
dressing hunger at its root causes.”
There are 130 farmers markets
in Oregon; 70 of them also offer
extra cash to low income shop-
pers using their SNAP/Oregon
Trail cards. Most offer a dollar
for dollar match up to $10, which
boosts the buying power for low
income households, enabling
shoppers to buy more local fruits
and vegetables.
“Nearly all SNAP shoppers at
farmers markets tell us how im-
portant the program has been for
them to eat more nutritious foods.
That’s why it’s so important for us
to help markets continue accept-
ing SNAP without interruption,”
says Molly Notarianni, program
director of the Farmers Market
Fund.
In the next few weeks, Farmers
Market Fund will partner with Ore-
gon Farmers Market Association to
assure that each market impacted
by the Novo Dia closure is identi-
fied and will get the help they need.
“Everyone’s goal is to make
sure there is no break in service at
any market for any SNAP custom-
ers, and this contribution will help
make that goal achievable,” says
Kelly Crane, Program Director,
Oregon Farmers Markets Associa-
tion. “We are really inspired by the
way that the farmers market com-
munity and food system partners
have all come together to find a fix
for this situation.”