There’s so much going on right now it’s hard to know where to look.  Do we glance left where huge grasshoppers are demolishing the bread basket of our nation?  Or should we look down to where oil continues to destroy the gulf of Mexico and all the delicious seafood that used to reside there.  Perhaps for a more up-lifting view we should look around locally here in Boston where farmers markets have begun accepting food stamps, also known as EBT and SNAP, by adding electronic terminals on site.

Two or three years ago ( I should really know when, but I’ll just be honest and admit that I don’t) the rules changed to allow people enrolled in SNAP to spend their food stamps at farmers’ markets.  However, in 2004 the program switched from real food stamps to EBT or “Electronic Benefit Transfer” cards, basically cards with a magnetic strip that work just like a credit or debit card.  This was a problem because most farmers’ markets aren’t set up to accept any type of electronic payment.  Legally, SNAP was accepted at farmers’ markets, but in fact the infrastructure wasn’t there.

The terminals that can be used to swipe credit, debit, and EBT cards cost over $1000 each, a hefty fee.  You can learn more about the problem from this New York Times article.  People like my boss and friend Jeff Cole at Mass Farmers Markets and the good folks at The Food Project have been working tirelessly to make sure that despite the cost, every market in the Greater Boston Area can accept EBT.  They’ve recently partnered with Mass General Hospital further that goal by introducing Mass General Nutrition Dollars.

There are many reasons I think this is fabulous:

1. It can mean much more healthful food choices for low income folks.
2. Food dollars can stay local and help build up the local economy.
3. Foods at farmers’ markets aren’t pre-packaged, so in a way the government is funding less waste.
4. I’m involved, so of course I want to write about it.

Let’s talk about the healthful food choices first.  SNAP already limits your food choices a little; you can’t buy hot foods, restaurant meals, alcoholic beverages, or vitamins with food stamps; but you can still buy any number of other foods that might not be the most healthful.  You can buy soda and potato chips and candy with food stamps, most of which you’re not going to find at a farmers’ market.  What you will find at a farmers market are lots of fresh vegetables and fruits.  Some markets carry meats and seafood, both of which are covered.  Another fun one is “seeds and plants which (sic) produce food for the household to eat.”  You catch that?  You can buy seedlings at the farmers’ market, plant them at home, and enjoy the most local of foods, using your SNAP benefits.  Ed Murietta talks about this in today’s Talk of the Nation.

Building the local economy is something I like a lot, although I mostly stick to sustainable food and let my friends at Slow Money be the experts when it comes to economics.  However, here is my The Idiot’s Guide to the Local Multiplier Effect.  The term ‘local multiplier effect’ refers to how many times a dollar is recirculated within a local economy before leaving through the purchase of an import (something not local).  The general idea is that when you spend money in a grocery store that is owned by people who live outside your community, the money you spend there mostly leaves your community.  Not only that, but it leaves your community right away, without recirculating at all.  However, when you spend money at a farmers market with all local farmers, those farmers will then spend those dollars on something else in the local community.  This multiplies the effect of each of those dollars on the entire community. Good stuff.

Let’s talk un-eco-friendly.  Last time I went into a grocery store I saw baking potatoes individually wrapped in plastic.  In accordance with Country of Origin Labeling laws, each apple had a little sticker on it.  The mushrooms came in styrofoam containers with cellophane on top.   Now let’s talk eco-friendly.  Last time I went to the farmers’ market every patron had their own bag and when I bought a pint of strawberries the vendor asked me to give her back the little wooden container they were sitting in if I didn’t think they would stain anything.  Less packaging means less waste, and I’ve never seen a farmers’ market yet that creates more trash than a grocery store.

How am I involved?  Through Mass Farmers Markets.  This Saturday the Boston Health Expo will be happening at the Hynes Convention Center.  Mass General Hospital has an exhibit there where it will be talking about health and nutrition and it has kindly invited folks from both Mass Farmers Markets and The Food Project to talk about food and farmers’ markets.  I’ll be there from 12-2, so stop by to chat and learn more.  I’ll also be doing EBT outreach at Copley, Central, and occasionally Davis Square market, so don’t be shy about locally multiplying your dollars!