Market Farming

[BillOhio <billohio AT gmail.com>]

At our market here in Ohio, the WIC coupons have worked out well for us. The customers get 6 coupons for the season worth $3.00 each, which have to be redeemed for fresh produce, either at a market, farm stand, or from the producer accepting coupons. The local Family Services office has referred a few local clients to our farm, since we're 30 miles from the market, with a phone call to us first to make sure that was okay. 

Not too many farmers accept the coupons at the market because they feel they're complicated; you do have to follow the rules for filling them out and submitting, but we've had no trouble getting reimbursed. 

The folks using them tend to be young families who are really appreciative. They sometimes need help knowing what's in season and how to use some types of produce they've not seen before. We've made some good friends and definitely have customers we wouldn't have worked with otherwise. We're not required to raise everything we distribute to the customers, so there's some trading going on with other vendors to give better choices and variety.

The state agency administering the program has three WIC days in Columbus where they distribute the coupons to clients, who immediately redeem them with the attending farmers. My wife has attended these, and had a blast, with multilingual mothers, grandmothers and children shopping and having an outing. A lot of business was done with pointing and raised fingers.

We redeemed somewhere around $600 worth of coupons last summer--not a huge amount, but everything sure helps!

Bill Huhman
central Ohio

On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 4:44 PM, Willie McKemie

There is some state sanctioned organization that blesses the
associations that run farmers markets.  That organization also offers
very attractively priced liability insurance for the markets.  Once
blessed, a market can be eligible for the farmers market WIC program,
administered in Texas by the Texas Health Department.  No farm
inspections are required.  In fact, in recent years, the Health
Department has favored areas WITH peddlers in their markets.  The
Health Department does attempt to insure that only eligible products
are sold for WIC coupons.  And that those sales occur only at the
markets.

The people that redeem WIC coupons are typically not enthusiastic market
supporters.  They are likely to favor foods than can be eaten out of
hand and do not require cooking.