Senator Gillibrand urges streamlining of Farmers Market Nutrition Program

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wrote this week to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging the Agency to assist states in creating and implementing an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system for Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs (FMNP). By law, all federal nutrition programs are being transitioned to an EBT system by October 2020, but there is no plan for FMNPs. FMNPs allow beneficiaries, who include low-income woman, infants, and young children participating in the WIC program and Seniors, to redeem benefits at farmers markets, using paper vouchers valued at $4 each.

Read more, including the text of her letter, here.

Farmstands now included in federal nutrition programs

The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program provides families receiving WIC benefits with special checks each summer that they can use to purchase locally-grown fruits and vegetables at Farmers Markets.  In addition, the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program does the same for eligible low-income seniors.

The good news - these programs are being expanded to include farmstands!  Any farmer with a stand who is interested in being able to accept these checks does need to apply by completing all of the below documents (3 total application packages: the FMNP market application; the FMNP farmer application; and the WIC-VF application and agreement). 

The following links will provide the necessary documents:

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WIC-VF Farmer Application Package:

- WIC-VF Application: http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/AP/agservices/fmnp/2012/2012-WICVF-Farmer-Application.pdf

             - WIC-VF Agreement: http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/AP/agservices/fmnp/2012/2012-WICVF-Farmer-Agreement.pdf

FMNP Farmer Application Materials:

            - FMC-6:  http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/AP/agservices/fmnp/AttachD_FMNP_Farmer_Participation_Agreement_FMC6.pdf
            - Crop Plan:  http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/AP/agservices/fmnp/AttachF_FMNP_Crop_Plan.pdf            
            - FMNP Farmer Rules and Procedures:  http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/AP/agservices/fmnp/AttachE_FMNP_Farmer_Rules.pdf             

FMNP Market Application: http://www.agriculture.ny.gov/AP/agservices/fmnp/AttachA_FMNP_Farmers_Market_Applic.pdf  

New York maintains heat or eat program

Only 4 states—Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey and New Hampshire—are implementing the cuts to the food stamp program that were enacted as part of the 2014 Farm Bill. The new law says that people can't get enhanced SNAP benefits unless they receive more than $20 a year in heating assistance (up from $1 a year), which lawmakers hoped would be too expensive for states to pay. But the governors in 12 of the 16 affected states and the mayor of the District of Columbia have said they will find a way to pay for the increased heating aid. Most will use federal heating assistance dollars. At least one, California, will use its own money.

(Source: Star Tribune, 9/17/14, No SNAP Cuts)

 

 

BRRR...it's getting cold (you know you're from the North Country when you wear a snowsuit under your Halloween costume!)...thank goodness New York State stepped up to the plate and increase heating assistance so that people would not lose SNAP benefits!

 

Gloria

New poll shows that majority of Americans think government should do more to solve hunger

Yesterday, The Hill ran an op-ed by Jim Weill from the Food Research and Action Center and Sara Lilygren, executive vice president of Corporate Affairs at Tyson Foods, titled “Hunger: An issue we can agree on,” which underscores how the majority of Americans polled are looking to government to be part of the solution.

They said, in part:

"Hunger continues to be far too widespread in our nation. Americans recognize that families are running out of food at the end of the month and that children are eating less nutritious and cheaper food so their parents can scrape together money to pay the rent. They realize that seniors are often choosing whether to pay for prescriptions or food. They know that many children go hungry in the summer when school is out. Indeed, 45 percent of Americans say that hunger in the U.S. is a 'serious problem.'

"These are sobering thoughts, but people believe there is a solution and they are looking for the government, in addition to individuals and local communities, to lead. Overwhelmingly, people believe that government should tackle this problem. More than 80 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Independents believe the federal and local government has responsibility, and 50 percent of Republicans believe that the federal government has responsibility."

Read the full article here and see the full poll results here.

Federal Child Nutrition programs due for reauthorization

Every five years, Congress must reauthorize child nutrition programs. During this process, Congress will debate new funding levels, ways to strengthen and improve the programs, and develop new policies to make sure our nation’s children have access to healthy, nutritious food. The current bill, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, is set to expire on September 30, 2015. Next year, the following programs are up for renewal:

▪ The Summer Food Service Program: Provides free meals and snacks to low-income children during the summer months.

▪ Child and Adult Care Food Program: Provides nutritious meals and snacks to children and adults in designated child and adult care centers, as well as snacks and suppers to children in afterschool programs.

▪ WIC: Provides nutritious foods and nutrition education for low-income, at risk women, infants.

▪ National School Lunch and Breakfast programs: Provides nutritionally balanced meals to qualified children each school day.

(Source: Feeding America, 9/14, Child Nutrition Programs)

This is an important conversation for all of us at GardenShare and in the communities of St. Lawrence County to engage in.  According to Hunger Solutions New York, in the 2011-12 school year, 8,188 students in St. Lawrence County were eligible for a free or reduced-price breakfast at school, but only 3,526 or 43% of those eligible were taking part.  In the 2012-13 school year, the situation got worse.  A few less students were eligible - 8,092, but even fewer of them, 3,382 or 42% were eating breakfast at school.

Hunger Solutions NY has set a goal of having 70% of the children who are eligible for a free or reduced-price breakfast at school actually get this meal.  If we accomplished this goal in St. Lawrence County, it would bring an additional $168,565.62 in federal reimbursements for these meals into our county!  More important, an additional 652 children would get a healthy breakfast every day of the school year!

In addition, the Summer Food Service Program provides meals for these children that get free breakfast and lunch during the shool year while school is out in the summer.  In the summer of 2013, there were only five sites in St. Lawrence County for children to get these meals - in Brasher Falls, Edwards, Gouverneur, Massena, and Potsdam.  I'm not sure how low-income families in Canton, Ogdensburg, or the many smaller communities throughout the County ensure that their children have healthy food during the summer.

These are among the issues I will be digging further into in the coming months and I invite participation in these conversations from interested parents, school officials, and citizens.

After all, if we can't make sure our communities' children get healthy meals, what kind of civilization are we?

Gloria