This spring the Farmer's Market of Keene will celebrate the second year of the Double Up Veggie Bucks program found at the farmer’s market. Thanks to the new program all residents who depend on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy food will be able to double their benefits when purchasing at the farmer’s market.
The Cheshire Conservation District has partnered with the Farmer's Market of Keene to help launch the program along with help from the New Hampshire Food Bank and Wholesome Wave, a national nonprofit dedicated to ensuring access to fresh, nutritious produce in low income communities.
Incentives like the Double Up Veggie Bucks program insures healthy and fresh food options are available to every member of the community despite the raising cost of fruits and vegetables in the local grocery stores. The national Farm Bill pumps billions of dollars into subsidies towards commodity crops such as corn, soy, wheat, and cotton that go mainly towards making heavily processed, sugary foods. These extensive subsidies can discourage farmers from growing fruits and vegetables. According to an article published in the Journal of Public Health and Policy when the subsidies for commodity crops began drastically increasing in the 1980’s the average cost of vegetables and fruits rose while the cost of fattening processed food fell.
Since the implementation of commodity crop subsidies our country has also seen a drastic decrease in small family farms. This is due to the billions of subsidies allocated to large multi-million dollar agricultural businesses. The largest 10% of farming operations collect about 74% of government subsidies. By increasing business at our local farmer’s market programs such as the Double Up Veggie Bucks plays a huge role in helping to promote and support the small farmers Keene loves.
Through Keene’s double up program has only been in affect for a year it has still seen substantial benefits to both community residents and local farmers. During the last year the market saw on increase of $9,000. Participants in the program rave that the benefits are instrumental in providing healthy food options for themselves and their families. Participating farmers have also seen a substantial increase in their sales at the market, and amongst the venders there is full support of the program.
Double up programs all over the country will see an additional boost in funding due to the newly passed 2014 Farm Bill. Though food advocates were disappointed in the $8 billion dollar cut to SNAP benefits many celebrated the newly constructed Food Insecurity Nutritional Incentive Program (FINIP.) This program will issues $10 million worth of grants to help fund programs all over the country that double SNAP benefits at local farmer’s markets. Our local program will undoubtedly work towards applying for these federal grants in hopes of continuing to bring healthy food options to all sectors of our community.
The summer Farmer's Market of Keene starts on May 3rd and will run until October. The market will be open from 9:00 am through 1:00 PM every Tuesday and Saturday in downtown Keene. And every Thursday evening from 5:00-7:00 at the Colony Mill Marketplace.
The Cheshire Conservation District has partnered with the Farmer's Market of Keene to help launch the program along with help from the New Hampshire Food Bank and Wholesome Wave, a national nonprofit dedicated to ensuring access to fresh, nutritious produce in low income communities.
Incentives like the Double Up Veggie Bucks program insures healthy and fresh food options are available to every member of the community despite the raising cost of fruits and vegetables in the local grocery stores. The national Farm Bill pumps billions of dollars into subsidies towards commodity crops such as corn, soy, wheat, and cotton that go mainly towards making heavily processed, sugary foods. These extensive subsidies can discourage farmers from growing fruits and vegetables. According to an article published in the Journal of Public Health and Policy when the subsidies for commodity crops began drastically increasing in the 1980’s the average cost of vegetables and fruits rose while the cost of fattening processed food fell.
Since the implementation of commodity crop subsidies our country has also seen a drastic decrease in small family farms. This is due to the billions of subsidies allocated to large multi-million dollar agricultural businesses. The largest 10% of farming operations collect about 74% of government subsidies. By increasing business at our local farmer’s market programs such as the Double Up Veggie Bucks plays a huge role in helping to promote and support the small farmers Keene loves.
Through Keene’s double up program has only been in affect for a year it has still seen substantial benefits to both community residents and local farmers. During the last year the market saw on increase of $9,000. Participants in the program rave that the benefits are instrumental in providing healthy food options for themselves and their families. Participating farmers have also seen a substantial increase in their sales at the market, and amongst the venders there is full support of the program.
Double up programs all over the country will see an additional boost in funding due to the newly passed 2014 Farm Bill. Though food advocates were disappointed in the $8 billion dollar cut to SNAP benefits many celebrated the newly constructed Food Insecurity Nutritional Incentive Program (FINIP.) This program will issues $10 million worth of grants to help fund programs all over the country that double SNAP benefits at local farmer’s markets. Our local program will undoubtedly work towards applying for these federal grants in hopes of continuing to bring healthy food options to all sectors of our community.
The summer Farmer's Market of Keene starts on May 3rd and will run until October. The market will be open from 9:00 am through 1:00 PM every Tuesday and Saturday in downtown Keene. And every Thursday evening from 5:00-7:00 at the Colony Mill Marketplace.
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