A Central City grocery store that received a low-interest loan under a city-funded program to bring fresh foods to under-served neighborhoods has been closed and placed on the market.
Owner Doug Kariker said the store was too much work. “I can’t do it anymore,” he said. The store was not profitable, he said, “but in our business plan, we didn’t expect it to be” in the first year.
First recipient of Fresh Food Retail Initiative closes, puts store on market | The Lens.
Farmers markets in low-income communities webinar August 29, 2013
Speaker 1: Mukethe Kawinzi, Project Coordinator, The Food Trust
Farmers markets are an effective means to bring fresh and healthy means to under served neighborhoods.
TFT operate 25 markets and support more.
Most important criteria in establishing markets in low-income areas:
1. Strategic site selection
Intersecting criteria: high traffic area, low access to fresh fruits and veg,
2. Community Partners
Wide selection of types, help with logistical and demographic support. Help with marketing.
3. Food Assistance Programs
Critical to success of FMs; half of farmers sales at times are benefit dollars
Their Huntington Park Farmers Market ( with 1 farmer) is a good example of organizing to ensure community involvement.
TFT surveys their shoppers every year and monitor sales, both in benefit sales and other sales.
Speaker 2:
Oren Hesterman – Fair Food Network
Double Up Food Bucks: Monetary incentive strategy
Purpose of DUFB is to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of incentives, while supporting farmers and inform policy.
2009 Detroit first project was called Mobucks (Motown Bucks)
5 FMs, including Eastern Market
26,000 SNAP and 10,600 in MoBucks, Year one
Year 2 expanded beyond Detroit, changed the name to DUFB
Short FFN YouTube video about program available on FFN YouTube channel
In 2013: DUFB serving 100 FMs in MI and Northern OH
2012: Reached almost 2 million dollars in SNAP and DUFB sales at those markets
Good evaluation is key: check out the DUFB website
80% SNAP shoppers are buying more varieties
1200 farmers statewide participating: 83% are making more money because of the DUFB
FFN, MU, WW and RoC released a cluster analysis of incentives in 2013.
Speaker #3: Jen O’Brien FMC
SNAP: 16.6 million spent at FMs in 2011. But only .O2 % of SNAP sales
Only 3500 of 8000 FMs are SNAP authorized in 2012
2 main goals in regards to FMs:
That those with SNAP access are maximizing their program
Closing the gap: more markets need to be authorized
SNAP is not the only goal for a market in a low income community: market characteristics are often diverse when serving low income communities
Many funding opportunities for markets to expand access through USDA grants (as long as the Farm Bill is passed!)
Much innovative work has been done with FMPP funding ( see FMC report) and with specialty crop grants at state level. (Low income veterans are the subject of a specialty crop project in Bridgeport Connecticut)
I’ve always been very proud of the very active way that my old workplace promoted FMNP in Louisiana. Since FMNP’s inception in Louisiana, MU’s markets have been at the forefront of expanding the program’s reach and redemption levels.
The FMNP incentive idea is a great one and allows seniors to continue shopping after their booklet was spent: they bring their empty booklet to the Welcome Booth and get 24.00 more in tokens to spend throughout the year, on any item.
With amenities like senior bingo, guided trips through the market and lots of assistance from staff, senior numbers continue to grow (by more than a thousand seniors!) at all three of their markets and their Field Note shows how the staff made it happen. Medium to large markets can certainly benefit from this report.
How about an incentive targeted to smokers using markets as part of their cessation program?
Smokers More Likely to Quit With Fruits & Vegetables | Care2 Healthy Living.
Ah incentives. This is a great interview with NYC Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs about their cash incentive program. The Mexico model was the one that was explained to us in New Orleans back in 2006 (by the same public health researcher that is now working for NYC) and became the basis of the markets’ innovative work on the Gulf Coast which continues to this day. We understood (because of her training) that we were using cash as a short-term way to reduce significant barriers around open-air farmers markets, especially for low-income shoppers that face barriers such as lack of transportation, short market hours (that are often at odds with service workers schedules), the need to learn new shopping behavior, the perception of markets as elitist and so on.
To me, markets are in the business of incentivizing behavior change and we use many tools to that end: events, seating, music, children’s educational resources, support for farmers to grow their businesses and so on. Cash incentives are now well understood by public health activists and so were brought to our markets as an efficient way to do targeted outreach to at-risk communities. It’s not the answer to all of our market issues, but it has allowed us to regain our rightful place as the center of innovation in community food systems and to add some disciplined measurement strategies to our portfolio.
I really like how the NYC describes this in the interview; I like the analogy of the tax code as being a set of incentives as well.
The entire series Freakonomics is based on incentives as well. Check that out for a macro view of the subject.
Link to interview
Living in New Orleans used to mean that I had a mild winter (if any) to deal with each year and January was about celebrating Carnival from Twelfth Night up until Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). Now as a market consultant, I spend the winter traveling to conferences and meetings, oddly almost all held in the northern climes!
Even with my aversion to cold, I am excited to be returning to Vermont for my third visit with NOFA-VT, and the second time I will be attending their Direct Marketing Conference held in lovely South Royalton VT.
Beginning last fall, I started work with NOFA-VT and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture to study their card and token currency systems in the markets and comparing them to other states’ systems in view of the 2020 implementation of WIC to EBT cards – as well as the new technology that is swirling around like Square and the new upcoming Novo Dia Group smart phone app for cc/debit/food stamps. Also included in this research is the need to ascertain if these systems (which of course include incentives, FMNP coupons, WIC vouchers and in some states veggie prescriptions too) are working well at market level and how to measure them.
I have been calling on my colleagues across a dozen states and networks to hear their analysis which has been shared most generously. Now, I go to Vermont to gather some case studies from farmers and market managers to round out the raw data which then will need to be crammed into a manageable report for Vermont come early spring.
wish me luck.
And, email me or call me if you have data on a network or state level that you wish to share.
The report from Fair Food Network, Market Umbrella, Roots of Change and Wholesome Wave offers some helpful data and analysis of the incentive programs used in farmers markets. All 4 of these organizations are involved with incentive campaigns at different levels and have begun to see the effects of the many campaigns that they have run. It is clear to me that cash incentives have been successful in reducing the early barriers for markets hoping to attract lower income shoppers. However,the ability of the market organizations to create and manage these campaigns remains a cause of concern in some networks and states.
I am curious as to how incentives could be used in more ways (two examples might be how to attract new vendors or thanking neighbors who live with the impact of the market ) and how other incentives besides a cash match could be developed.
See the report here. FYI- It is only opening on computers; it does not seem to open on tablets at this point.
Novo Dia Group partners with WorldPay to offer complete payment solution to Farmers Market community
The Mobile Market+ and AprivaPay solution enables farmers markets to accept credit, debit, and electronic benefit cards (EBT), making fresh, nutritious, local produce accessible to families receiving food assistance all on single device.
Austin, TX – November 5, 2012 -Novo Dia Group, Inc., a software development firm specialized in the health and human services industry, today announced an agreement with WorldPay Inc. that will allow its Mobile Market+ product to be available to Farmers Markets and small retailers nationwide beginning early 2013. A combined offering of AprivaPay and Mobile Market+ will offer merchants the most complete payment coverage available. Now on a single device, merchants will be allowed to process Credit, Debit, and all EBT transactions. In addition to a combined offering, NDG and WorldPay have agreed to service merchants seeking EBT only services. Pricing for the combination and EBT only solution is expected in early December, and will offer a flexible combination of connectivity, device, and services.
“We’re pleased to partner with Novo Dia to bring a full service smartphone offering to Farmer’s Markets and non-traditional retailers nationwide. We believe the combination of NDG’s innovation and our best of breed processing capabilities brings a full service solution to a market that is quickly expanding, and also serves a vital role in the retail community.” Steve Eyring director of sales WorldPay
The Mobile Market+ application, which was recently recognized as a finalist in the Verizon Innovation Awards, is a solution specifically developed to service merchants seeking a mobile POS solution or ones with no access to phone lines, networks or electricity. The handheld device is battery operated and communicates wirelessly via Wi-Fi or the cellular network. The Mobile Market+ application is approved by Apple and USDA. Approved vendors can download the app directly from the App Store.
Novo Dia Group is a full-service software development and consulting firm based in Austin, Texas. It specializes in the Health and Human Services industry with focus on processing benefit delivery systems for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and debit transactions.
Please visit http://www.novodiagroup.com for more information.
PR Contacts:
Josh Wiles, Novo Dia Group, Inc T: 512-371-4134, mail to: josh@novodiagroup.com
Steve Eyring, WorldPay T: 801-302-9924, mail to: steve.eyring@worldpay.us
This is a good overview of the work Wholesome Wave does and how it came to be. Their impact is certainly being felt and the partnerships that they have created with markets and market networks are crucial to the goal of building the community food system.
Good market newsletter article and as markets that have begun to reach out to families know, you need to involve both parent and child in the market.
An excellent reference for all farmers markets. This link will take you to Wholesome Wave’s program page, where a pdf of their survey is available. This will tell you the impact of their double value coupon projects and also give some very helpful demographics.
Wholesome Wave
As a market organizer that created and ran a fair trade market in New Orleans for 5 years, I researched the idea heavily, many times while sitting at my neighborhood fair trade coffeehouse, Fair Grinds. I did find the fair trade argument thin in places, as it seemed to be more about a fuzzy mostly environmental rating on a bag and less about the part that a market organizer would focus on: that it offers more direct relationships with farmers and allows for a fairer accounting of labor and resource use. The painstaking knowledge of what it takes to farm and to survive in colonial regions is often reduced to a sepia toned photo of a farmer and a name on a sign. What is also interesting is that fair trade has not spread past commodities such as coffee and chocolate. Where is the fair trade wheat or sugar for example? And as more and more distributors enter the game, everyone it seems has at least 1 fair trade coffee on the shelf, often with very little paperwork or knowledge to support it. So, it seems to me to be have developed as more of a brand for consumers than a new values-based set of relationships. I will say, I continue to support my fair trade coffeehouse and purchase it when I can find it.
This article explains some of the weaknesses that it has as a movement, but I will say, their argument that it lacks a “single issue” focus is, in my mind not one of them. In any case, I appreciate the article and the magazine that published it.
Briarpatch
One of my past colleagues at marketumbrella.org Emily Schweninger, is interviewed here about the pilot incentive programs done at the Crescent City Farmers Market that really changed the reach of their market system starting in 2007/2008. I will also recommend the other video on tokens found on the same marketumbrella.org YouTube channel called “FAQ-token systems.” I’m very proud of this series that I produced while at marketumbrella.org and hope it’s helpful for you.
“Mr. Kim, who witnessed mass starvation in Cambodia, losing a brother, refers to his two-acre plot as “my plenty.” His fellow farmer Sinikiwe Makarutsa grew up in Zimbabwe and now grows maize on land rented from a local church. She made enough money to buy a tractor and rototiller.”
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 