Category Archives: Policy
FMC Announces Market Manager Fly-In to Capitol Hill
Honesta Romberger August 10, 2023FMC is thrilled to announce the upcoming Market Manager Fly-In in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., scheduled tentatively for the 2nd week of September! What’s Happening? Thanks to generous additional funding from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the Regenerative Agriculture Foundation, FMC has the opportunity to invite a select group of market managers to…
2023 FMC Updated Policy Priorities
Honesta Romberger May 11, 2023As Farm Bill negotiations heat up, we would like to take the opportunity to share our revised Farm Bill priorities. This update includes priorities related to the acceptance and processing of SNAP and other federal nutrition benefits at farmers markets, specifically the need to: Provide farmers and markets with appropriate and no-cost equipment to process…
Winter Reading for Market Managers
Mykalee McGowan November 10, 2022Summer is definitely over–despite the last few green tomatoes hanging around on my drooping backyard vines–and many markets are slowing down for the season, closing up shop entirely, or moving into smaller or warmer digs for winter. The darker months ahead are a great time for lots of things: drinking hot beverages, cross-country skiing, avoiding…
2022 Farmers Market SNAP-EBT Technology Survey
Hannah Fuller September 12, 2022FMC invites markets across the US to fill out our Farmers Market SNAP and Incentives technology survey. EBT Processing Technology. We know it sees the best of us and the worst of us. With your help in filling out this survey, together we’ll learn about your market’s relationship with EBT and incentives technology. This survey…
FMC Commends Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program
Ellie Wong August 18, 2022On Friday, the Office of Marcy Kaptur (OH) released the updated Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program bill called the Farmers Market and Food Bank Local Revitalization Act of 2022. The proposed legislation is intended to increase and enhance funding for Senior and Women, Infants, and Children Farmers Market Nutrition Programs (SFMNP and WIC FMNP) to…
2022 FMC Updated Policy Priorities
Ellie Wong August 11, 2022With National Farmers Market Week upon us, we wanted to share our updated policy priorities. We are actively advocating for farmers markets and revising our priorities from the beginning of the year based on input from market managers about challenges they have experienced, analysis from FMC staff, and feedback from our contacts at USDA and…
FMC Applauds Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act
Ben Feldman July 22, 2022On Wednesday, July 20, 2022 the House Education and Labor Chairman, Bobby Scott (D-VA), released the Committee’s revitalized Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill called the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act. The proposed legislation addresses key child nutrition issues and provides funding and resources to programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children…
WIC FMNP Advocacy Update: Summer 2022
Mykalee McGowan May 23, 2022Part of the job of Congress is to pass a budget and appropriate funds to carry out the work of the government. While the fiscal year begins October 1, the annual appropriations cycle is a lengthy one. As part of the process, members of Congress use what are known as “Dear Colleague Letters” to demonstrate…
2022 FMC Policy Priorities
Mykalee McGowan February 16, 2022FMC’s board recently approved the organizations’ legislative priorities to guide our work over the next year. These priorities are based on input from market managers about challenges they have experienced, analysis from FMC staff, and feedback from our contacts at USDA and on the hill. A note on SNAP EBT: The fact that SNAP is…
WIC FMNP Advocacy Update Summer 2021
Hannah Fuller June 23, 2021Earlier this year, the Farmers Market Coalition called on our members and broader farmers market community to ask their Members of Congress to sign on in support of an increase in funding to the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). Thanks to those advocacy efforts, “Dear Colleague Letters” in both the House and Senate resulted…