NPR did a piece recently on the federal government's plan to put $100 million behind a program that doubles SNAP benefits (aka food stamps) for
people using them to buy local produce.
The idea first surfaced in 2005 among workers at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. They were starting a campaign to get people to eat more fresh produce.
[...]
Young recalls that one of their workers pointed out that some SNAP recipients live near farmers markets "and we thought, how about we incentivize them to use their SNAP benefits at these farmers markets?"
New York City put a little money into the
Health Bucks Program. The program's method was so simple
even a politician could understand it:
New York City’s Health Bucks Program provides SNAP recipients with a $2 coupon for every $5 spent using SNAP benefits at participating farmers markets.
The results were what its creators had hoped they would be. People began spending more of their SNAP benefit monies at local farmers markets. The elegance of the idea was not lost on others and across the United States, other communities began their own "doubling" programs–frequently these programs were started by activists
getting private funding.
Back in 2007, a man named John Hyde organized the Crossroads market with this immigrant community in mind "and then realized — these people did not have a lot of money," says Gus Schumacher, Hyde's friend and collaborator at the time. (Hyde can't tell the story himself, unfortunately. He died in 2009.)
Schumacher says he and Hyde got to talking about this money problem and had a brainstorm: If they could raise some money, they could use it to double the value of food stamps, as well as vouchers from the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program and food benefits for seniors.
Schumacher, a former top official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, used his connections to raise the money. "I asked the National Watermelon Association if they would provide a small stipend, and they were very generous. They provided $5,000," he says.
This same story applied across the nation where other food activists started their own programs. Once up and running, the benefits to communities' health and local farmers' economy were undeniable.
Earlier this year, the farm bill passed, and it included $100 million, over the next five years, to boost SNAP dollars when they're spent on fresh fruits and vegetables. Those taxpayer dollars have to be matched by private funding, so the program could add up to $200 million in total.
That's a huge increase. According to some estimates, it may be 10 times what these programs spend right now.