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Category Archives: Newsletter
Farmers Market SNAP Sales Soar in 2010
Stacy April 19, 2011By Drew Love, FMC Research & Education Intern Over the past five years, the number of farmers markets and direct marketing farmers accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits increased 263%. That is only one of many promising figures to emerge from a forthcoming USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) report on SNAP redemption rates…
States advocate for legislation and regulation to support home-based micro-processing
Jen O'BrienBy Drew Love, FMC Research & Education Intern When the Food Safety Modernization Act passed in 2010, it established an important precedent by allowing smaller, direct-marketing farms to be exempt from many of the new federal requirements, provided that they could prove compliance with applicable state and local regulations. Now, a wave of legislative and…
FMC explores implications of IRS electronic payment reporting requirements
StacyBy Stacy Miller, Executive Director In March, official numbers from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service confirmed that the number of SNAP authorized farmers market organizations had grown to more than 1,600 in 2010, with redemptions totaling $7.5 million. That amount represent as more than 70% increase since 2009. What better celebration of spring than knowing…
A New Year Brings New Opportunities and Challenges
Jen O'Brien January 11, 2011Happy New Year, fellow travelers in the healthy food movement! It has been a tremendous year with lots of hard work… many new customers and farmers coming to market and lots of challenges to continue to serve at our highest levels. Just like you, the Farmers Market Coalition has met challenges and successes with determination…
FMC Announces Insurance Webinars to Start January 31st
Jen O'BrienThe first part of purchasing any policy is overcoming the sometimes overwhelming “legalese” that infuses most insurance research. The first webinar in FMC’s series, “Demystifying Farmers Market Risk and Being a Smart Insurance Shopper,” aims to identify all areas of legal exposure to risk, define the most commonly used terms, and identity helpful tips for analyzing and purchasing an insurance policy. Peter Kochenburger, University of Connecticut Law Professor, and Melissa Kauffman, from Jester Insurance, will both explain the essentials of understanding insurance policies, and the different factors that influence a policy’s price such as attendance, number of vendors, governance, items sold, and more. This session is scheduled for January 31st at 1 p.m. Eastern. Jeff Cole, Executive Director of Mass Farmers Markets and moderator for this webinar, emphasizes the importance of reviewing an insurance policy before purchasing it.
FNS Funds Research to Better Understand Farmers Market SNAP Acceptance
Jen O'BrienFNS has recently taken an interest in learning how to better connect SNAP clients to farmers markets, and initiated a competitive bidding process in mid-2010 to contract a research team to investigate SNAP access at farmers markets. After the bids had been submitted, Westat, a research firm based out of Rockville, Maryland, emerged as the winner and received the multi-million dollar contract to conduct the research.
Successes to Celebrate in Food Safety Legislation, Hard Work Ahead in Rule-Making and Education
Jen O'BrienOn December 21, 2010, the House of Representatives voted 215-144 to pass the Senate version of the Food Safety Modernization Act, ending weeks of procedural wrangling, and sending the bill to the President’s desk for signature. This is a milestone in the saga of food safety legislation that started over a year ago, after repeated…
Community-Funded Incentive Programs Galvanize Neighborhood Support for Food Equity in Portland
Jen O'BrienPortland Farmers Market (PFM) opened a new market located in a historically African-American, lower income area of the city with limited access to healthier foods, including fresh produce. The market was established with the support and collaboration of Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN), an organization that supports twelve neighborhood associations and more than 65,000 households in the few miles surrounding the market. In an effort to bolster neighborhood ownership of the market, NECN and a handful of dedicated community volunteers founded Foodshare Fund Northeast (FSFNE), a program to provide a dollar for dollar match up to $5 for SNAP recipients who shopped this new market. Funds for the incentive program came directly from individuals and area businesses within the surrounding community, truly localizing the program to the population served by the market.
FMC Welcomes New Research & Education Intern
Jen O'BrienOn December 1st, FMC welcomed Andrew (‘Drew’) Love to the team as a Research & Education Intern. Drew began working with FMC and the Wallace Center for Sustainable Agriculture on social media campaigns during this summer’s lead up to National Farmers Market Week, where he tracked nearly 100 media articles referencing the event. FMC Executive…
FMC Welcomes New Research & Education Intern
Jen O'BrienOn December 1st, FMC welcomed Andrew (‘Drew’) Love to the team as a Research & Education Intern. Drew began working with FMC and the Wallace Center for Sustainable Agriculture on social media campaigns during this summer’s lead up to National Farmers Market Week, where he tracked nearly 100 media articles referencing the event. FMC Executive…
