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A look from the inside: perspectives on the expansion of food assistance programs at Michigan farmers markets

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Abstract

There has been a recent push to offer more food assistance programs at farmers markets. Yet, as more programs are developed for farmers markets, little input has been sought from those who are ultimately responsible for their implementation. This ethnographic study explores the experiences of farmers markets that have been early adopters of federal food assistance programs. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were used in six early-adopting markets to understand staff perspectives on the challenges and benefits of administering food assistance programs. The results show that even markets with strong organizational capacity experienced significant burdens while operating food assistance programs. In addition, most worried about the sustainability of these programs due to the level of resources needed for their support. The findings suggest that calls to expand food assistance programs to all farmers markets will continue to be met with challenges as many markets will not have the capacity to operate them. Targeting farmers markets with strong organizational capacity may increase the probability of successful implementation, but building the organizational capacity of farmers markets may be necessary for widespread adoption. The study has implications for other sectors of civil society that are increasingly taking on the work of providing government programs.

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Abbreviations

EBT:

Electronic benefits transfer

FMNP:

Farmers Market Nutrition Program

FNS:

Food and Nutrition Services

POSD:

Point-of-sale device

PRWORA:

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act

SBIP:

SNAP-based incentive program

SFMNP:

Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program

SNAP:

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

USDA:

United States Department of Agriculture

WIC:

Women, Infants, and Children

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Harvest Heartland, 1140 Gervais Ave, St. Paul, MN, 55109, USA

    Rebecca Mino

  2. Department of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University, 480 Wilson Road Room 131, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Kimberly Chung

  3. Michigan State University, Justin S. Morrill Hall of Agriculture, 446 W. Circle Drive, Room 108, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Dru Montri

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  1. Rebecca Mino
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  2. Kimberly Chung
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Correspondence to Kimberly Chung.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Mino, R., Chung, K. & Montri, D. A look from the inside: perspectives on the expansion of food assistance programs at Michigan farmers markets. Agric Hum Values 35, 823–835 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-018-9877-1

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