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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Food stamps, WIC program and credit card acceptance

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: "logrock" <logrock AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Food stamps, WIC program and credit card acceptance
  • Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 07:40:42 -0500

In Georgia, WIC recipients are given five $6 checks to use at the
farmer's market over the season. Our WIC coordinator is a superior
person who set up two new markets in the area, coordinated around
locations & times of other local markets. However, we did not find the
experience to be an positive one overall, for the same reason previously
stated: resellers.

The rule allowing a vendor to resell up to 50% of what they bring to
market is a disaster. It cannot be enforced, nor do the people in charge
have any desire to enforce it. They want a "farmer's market". After
seeing resellers sway in to this comfortable indoor market, and plop
their grocery purchased items on the table, walk away with hundreds of
dollars in checks on a weekly basis, while legitimate growers packed up
their homegrown produce and carried it back home, we decided that it
wasn't worth it. Understandably, some of the legitimate farmers ended
up participating in the reselling just to get a share of the $6 checks,
which had to be spent in its entirety at a single vendor's stand. There
was also a communication barrier due to approximately 80 percent of the
recipients being Hispanic, and somewhere around 1/2 of those were unable
to speak English. And even though it was eventually worked out, every
vendor had a problem with their bank accepting the checks because they
were all made out to "Authorized Farmers", and then stamped with an
issued WIC stamp...which meant nothing to the bank.






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