Farmers on SNAP

July 12, 2018 9:13 AM

Cuts to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Formerally food stamps ) hurt small to medium hold farmers and thier customers. SNAP is a boon to rural and urban economies, cuts in the Farm Bill May end that. (Civil Eats) Tens of thousands of people are about to loose access to fresh produce. (Modern Farmer) Farm bill targets food stamps — but not the well-off farmers who have been on the dole for decades. (LA Times) Arsenal For Democracy episode: Congressional farm bill and SNAP eligibility revisions.
posted by The Whelk (16 comments total)

I hate this administration and I hate Sonny Purdue and I hate the entire farm bill reauthorization process. The GOP is always demonizing food stamps and school meals, yet USDA's social welfare programs cost very little in the grand scheme of the federal budget and they are hugely vital to so many people and families.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:19 AM on July 12, 2018 [17 favorites]

What else are you supposed to do when you're convinced that someone, somewhere is unfairly getting something they didn't earn? *grr* Seriously, providing food assistance is one of the primary functions of a state.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:25 AM on July 12, 2018 [5 favorites]

So basically some corporation that was founded a month before the contract went out for bid (seems like a shell, probably a grafter buddy of Trump's) got the contract to manage the technology process by which SNAP can be accepted at farmers' markets. This corporation has one employee. It's basically done nothing (except collect 1.3 million, we assume) and as of July 31 there will be no way to use food stamps at farmers' markets.

And that's why you won't be able to use SNAP at farmers' markets going forward, kids - the government has figured out a way to hand out millions to its buddies and destroy programs. Just give the money to a phony corporation, no work gets done and you've paid a lot of money to some robber baron pal.
posted by Frowner at 9:40 AM on July 12, 2018 [49 favorites]

These lazy inner-city farmers just need to get a job and pay for groceries like everyone else. That's the only explanation, right? Welfare programs are always bad, right?
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:09 AM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

There's so much food waste going on in the US, I want #foodstampsforall. Sure, food would still get wasted to some extent (cooking mishaps, forgotten in the back of the fridge, kids really do hate green beans, etc.) but I don't see why we can't afford to feed everyone for free.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:33 AM on July 12, 2018 [11 favorites]

There's so much food waste going on in the US, I want #foodstampsforall. Sure, food would still get wasted to some extent (cooking mishaps, forgotten in the back of the fridge, kids really do hate green beans, etc.) but I don't see why we can't afford to feed everyone for free.

There are limited cases where it's been tried, and I absolutely love them. My daughter's school instituted a universal-free-meals plan a few years back. Lots of kids qualified for free/reduced lunch benefits, and the administration decided it was easier on net to just provide breakfast and lunch for every student than it was to do the bookkeeping and risk kids going hungry because mom and dad messed up the paperwork. The school district absorbs the (nominal) extra cost, there's no risk of a kid failing a test because he missed breakfast, and the stigma around being the kid who gives the cashier a voucher instead of a $3 is gone. It's a goddamn miracle, and it costs almost nothing. I'd love to see a similar program instituted for every resident of the city.
posted by Mayor West at 11:01 AM on July 12, 2018 [42 favorites]

Corporate agribusinesses profit hugely while small farms and individuals lose again. The Department of Agriculture was important enough that it was the third cabinet level entity established by the founders of the US, right behind State and War (Defense). Now the USDA is being gutted across the board. This is unconscionable.
posted by X4ster at 11:21 AM on July 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

Mayor West, it's likely that the federal government is picking up the entire tab for that through a great program called Community Eligibility. It's called that because you qualify based on the community Census data instead of the individual student.
posted by postel's law at 11:41 AM on July 12, 2018 [9 favorites]

Normally, we're part of "Feds Feed Families", where we collect cans and produce for local food shelters. This year the program is supposed to start in a few days, and we've heard nothing.
posted by acrasis at 2:55 PM on July 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

(Here's more info about the Community Eligibility Provision for school meals!)
posted by elsietheeel at 3:14 PM on July 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

I get unusual vegetables at farmer’s manrkets. It’s good because I try new things. This year in my town the $49 Of farmer’s Market vouchers for seniors were issued late in my town. They are hard enough to get as it stands. They used to be issued in May. Didn’t have them until mid-June. I also use them for things it’s better to get organic. Like berries. You can only get $10 worth of SNAP tokens at our farmer’s marketS locally. It’s not going to be worth going at all if I have to pay cash.
This administration is so hateful and I really wish they’d be forced to take what they dish out. I wish I knew where a bridge too far is for their supporters.
In my state when you pass age 65, they cut your SNAP to $80 and put a $20 cash benefit on your card.
It’s already hard enough for older people.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:52 PM on July 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

Frowner: “Just give the money to a phony corporation, no work gets done and you've paid a lot of money to some robber baron pal.”

If there will in the future still be an America that could be America again, literally thousands of people are going to have to be severely punished for their malfeasance.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:50 PM on July 12, 2018

We are just about reaching our goal to fund the matching program for SNAP recipients at the local farmers market where I serve on the board. The matching program gave up to $10 in matching dollars for SNAP customers each Sunday so potentially getting them $20 to spend on the market each week. Last year, and for some years prior, there was a grant funding that program which was amazing but, of course, has come to an end and not been renewed so we are self-funding. I am crushed if we have raised these funds and won't be able to offer anything to our SNAP customers.

How is this anything but a grift?
posted by amanda at 9:18 PM on July 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

This is one of those (many, these days) times I'm glad that if I have to be poor at least I'm poor in the blue bubble of Massachusetts, where the state legislature gave our SNAP-farmer's market program supplemental funds to keep it alive, though long-term funding is still uncertain.
posted by camyram at 9:07 AM on July 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Except, @camyram, as the Modern Farmer article in the post says, the terminals used to process HIP may get shut down at the end of this month. Even our blue bubble can't save us Baystaters from a bad USDA screw-up.
posted by Framer at 7:05 PM on July 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Universal SNAP now.

It should be an opt-out system at least.
posted by The Whelk at 9:42 PM on July 16, 2018 [4 favorites]