Beyond SNAP: Incentives for WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program

Farmers Market Coalition is pleased to offer its second practitioner paper published through the Nutrition Incentive Hub, “Beyond SNAP: Incentives for Voucher and Coupon Programs,” by Erin Molnar and Amanda Osborne . Though SNAP incentives support the needs of many, hunger persists just outside the income threshold for eligibility. As a response, Countryside Food and Farms and the Ohio State University Extension each developed a pilot program to test an additional incentive based on WIC FMNP eligibility. By using WIC FMNP as a basis to determine incentive participants, market leaders were able to include shoppers who are ineligible for SNAP benefits but could still face economic barriers to local food access.Molnar and Osborne describe the design and implementation for each of their pilots, explore the benefits of local partnerships and innovative marketing, and share lessons learned through their own data collection and evaluation. Ultimately, their programs reach new customers and increase the effectiveness of incentives already in place.

The Farmers Market Coalition and the GusNIP NTAE Center