![]() ![]() District 19 - Natural Resources Assistance Council (NRAC).Stark County Area Transportation Study (SCATS).Stark County Regional Planning Commission (SCRPC).Ohio Department of Health COVID-19 Portal.Those are benefits more people will get as farmers markets across Ohio increasingly accept SNAP. “We get the money to provide for our farm employees at the farm and they get to get those nutrient dense vegetables,” he said. “A lot of families around here that are less fortunate come here and double up their tokens and they're able to afford to purchase locally grown food,” he said. He estimates he makes up to $100 a week in SNAP and Produce Perks dollars. Zeke Coleman sells some of those veggies. This is where people have access to fresh fruits and veggies and prepared foods.” “We don't have a grocery store,” Hague said. That’s partially because they, like Marietta, are in a food desert. Visitors spent $15,000 in them at the market last year, Megan Hague, the market manager, said. Now, it’s a model for just how much business a farmer’s market can do in SNAP benefits. It was one of the first markets in the state to accept SNAP benefits 11 years ago. The Ohio Newsroom The Northside Farmers Market, tucked into a church parking lot in Cincinnati, is located in a food desert.Ĭommunity members at the Northside Farmers Market - tucked into a church parking lot in Cincinnati - know this well. “Beyond addressing food and nutrition insecurity for low income households, there's intentionality around strengthening and stimulating local food economies,” he said. ![]() That means more customers are spending more of their SNAP benefits at farmers markets across the state. “We have experienced roughly 900% growth since our inception,” he said. Since the organization was founded six years ago, interest in it has skyrocketed. The organization provides a dollar to dollar match on SNAP benefits up to $25 if those benefits are spent on fruits and vegetables at places like farmers markets.įoreman said the match matters because farmer’s markets can be expensive for someone trying to stretch a grocery budget. That’s exciting, said Tevis Foreman, the executive director of Produce Perks. In Ohio, over 100 markets are now onboard. The Marietta Farmers Market isn’t alone in taking this route.ĭata from the USDA shows upwards of 3,000 farmers markets nationwide now accept SNAP benefits - about a 20% increase from two years ago. More Ohio farmers markets accepting SNAP benefits “Hopefully it gives a way for folks to get access to these foods.” “We want people to be able to come down here and buy these fresh fruits and vegetables because they do taste better and they are more nutritious,” McCartney said. Department of Agriculture defines parts of the city and the larger region as food deserts - low-income areas without an accessible grocery store.īecause of this, the Marietta farmer’s market started accepting SNAP benefits this summer. But other than a smattering of gas stations, dollar stores and an assortment of farm stands, food options in the surrounding 40-mile radius are scarcer. Marietta is home to a handful of grocery retailers. “So we actually have a lot of fabulous fruit and vegetable growers that you see here today.”īut even encompassed by fields of farmland, food security is an issue here. “And then, with the rivers, we have a lot of flatland,” McCartney said. There are fields of corn and soybeans, dairy farms and beef producers. ![]() He says Marietta’s market is so popular because the town, located on Ohio’s eastern edge, is surrounded by agriculture. “We have about twenty more on a waiting list,” said Marcus McCartney, an OSU extension educator and member of the farmers market’s board. Murphy is one of dozens of vendors crowded onto the sidewalks here. ![]()
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