Market Farming

["Robin Follette" <lists AT seasonseatingsfarm.com>]

I must have. 

 

>>She asked me if that was really the price...How could just two peaches cost
$8? What kind of market were we running? I had no idea what to tell her. How
can you explain the real cost of local organic production to someone for
whom $8 represents their food budget for several days? It's impossible.
Needless to say she never returned to market and it's rare for us to see
very many folks with WIC coupons for just that reason. When a case of ramen
noodles costs the same as two peaches and your children have empty tummies
there really isn't a choice.<<<

 

This is what I misunderstood.  WIC coupons don't cost participants anything so it didn't make sense to me that they wouldn't use them because of prices.  Maybe I added noodles in at market because it's late and I should have been in bed a while ago.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!  We'd been without dependable WiFi for 10 days thanks to equipment failure on the tower and an ice storm .  I'm enjoying catching up on email too much to go to bed.

 

Robin Follette
Seasons Eatings Farm
Talmadge, ME
www.seasonseatingsfarm.com

 

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Heirloom Grower

To: Market Farming

Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 9:21 PM

Subject: Re: [Market-farming] WIC! Wicked!

Robin,

 

I think you misunderstood. When folks have a choice between going to the grocery and getting enough high-starch food to last a week, or going to a produce market and getting 2 peaches for the same money, they will opt for the grocery and the cheap starches every time. It is easier to bear monotony in the diet and eat every day than it is to eat peaches one day and listen to your children crying from hunger the rest of the week.

 

Folks DO have that choice, and they make it every day.

 

Elise

On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 8:02 PM, Robin Follette <lists AT seasonseatingsfarm.com> wrote:

> A question: do you see WIC customers spending any of their own money on
> produce? In other words, do they become regular market customers? Do you
> feel it's worth the bother? We've noticed they don't at either market
> where
> we sell. We started taking WIC gladly at first.

Maine uses/used a check system.  The voucher looks just like a regular
check. They're deposited the same way any other check is deposited.

We did have regular market customers as a result of FMNP. Some were young
families learning about fresh food and others were former corporate
employees who were down sized.  It's good to see the high and low end of
income levels shopping side by side without anyone paying attention to who's
paying cash, signing a personal check or signing a voucher.

 Our biggest problems with FMNP was first, getting the WIC department to
give the vouchers out in June instead of August, and getting people to use
them weekly or monthly rather than waiting until September when our regular
growing season was winding down.  When you've got a lot less to offer than
you had two months ago and vouchers are showing up in your booth all at once
it's a problem.

There were a couple of references to Ramen noodles.  Ramen noodles shouldn't
be at farmers market or a farmstand.  Farmers Market Nutrition Program
vouchers in Maine are for fruits, vegetables and herbs only.  There
shouldn't be an opportunity to have to make a choice between produce and
noodles.

Robin Follette
Seasons Eatings Farm
Talmadge, ME
www.seasonseatingsfarm.com