EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) Cards are debit cards bearing the value of food or cash in federal program benefits. They have taken the place of paper food stamps, generating a necessity for businesses to have a greater technological capacity to accept food stamps, i.e. the need for a cardservice machine.
Informal points of sale such as the direct markets of farmstands and farmers’ markets are conveniently accessible, provide nutritious foods and support local economies. However, the majority of these locations are not outfitted with cardservice machines whether for EBT, Debit or Credit cards. The use of EBT cards benefits both the consumer and the supplier; those with lower incomes are able to purchase from local markets and the customer base at the markets expands. With a cardservice machine a farmers’ market would also have the opportunity to accept debit cards, further increasing the overall sales as customers can spend a greater amount than their cash on hand.
States throughout the nation have implemented programs for introducing the use of EBT and Debit cards within farmers’ markets. Cardservice companies, such as EFunds and CardService, have representatives with experience in working with market managers and can recommend the machine best suited for the market location and purpose of use. Organizations such as the Oregon Farmers’ Market Association, Community Food Connections in Arizona, the New York Federation of Farmers’ Markets, and the Ecology Center in California have implemented and sustained EBT/Debit Programs and offer assistance to interested farmers’ markets and organizations.
Vermont receives over $4.5 million per month in food benefits from the federal Food Stamp Program. The recipients of this money are currently not able to make purchases at the majority of farmers’ markets and farmstands that dot the roads of Vermont. Therefore the recipients of the federal Food Stamp Program are restricted in their ability to support the state’s agricultural community and to obtain the highest quality of foods.
Increasing food stamp purchases at farmers’ markets would allow small farmers to capture more of these federal resources. Food stamp recipients would also benefit, not only because they could purchase locally grown foods, but also because food stamp benefits could be used to purchase vegetable starts, honey, meats, dairy or maple products, and prepared foods such as cider or pickles.
Each Vermont farmers’ market equipped with a cardservice machine that accepts EBT, Debit and/or Credit has the ability of many benefits. This increases the opportunity in providing fresh produce and local products to low-income Vermonters and the opportunity for each market to improve overall sales, increasing the success of the market and the weekly incomes of the vendors. Overall, the expected result of EBT and Debit used at Vermont’s farmers’ markets is a growth of local economy and an option for low-income individuals and families to shop with their neighboring farmers rather than national retail chains.
NOFA-VT collaborated with the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, and the Vermont Department for Children and Families to pilot the use of EBT at three farmers’ markets this season: Brattleboro, Winooski and Bellows Falls. The plan is to expand the pilot in 2008 to additional markets.
The goal of the pilot was to increase the capacity of the farmers’ markets to accept EBT, to test the demand for use of debit cards, and to provide information to market managers on how to make farmers’ markets more accessible to lower income populations.
Each market manager received an EFunds wireless cardservice machine, technical training, wooden tokens and supportive materials. This allowed the manager to staff a main EBT/Debit booth, inform their market vendors and advertise throughout the community about the EBT/Debit Pilot Project.
The main EBT/Debit booth is where customers swipe their EBT or Debit card and receive their desired amount of spending in the form of market money (wooden tokens). Wooden tokens are in $1 increments for EBT food and $5 increments for EBT and Debit cash.
Regulations were developed for the 2007 Pilot Project on the use of the two monetary tokens. The $5 tokens may be used to purchase any food or non-food product sold at the market. As a customer, you can receive cash back when paying with $5 tokens. The $1 tokens may be used to buy foods eligible under Food Stamp Program rules. This includes food intended for home consumption and not served hot, including: fruits, vegetables or herbs; meat, fish or poultry; baked goods; dairy, honey or maple products; processed foods like pickles, jam or salad dressings; cider or other non-alcoholic beverages; and seeds or plants for the household to grow its own food. The $1 tokens may NOT buy any food that is served hot, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, pet foods, vitamins, medicines, or non-food items such as soaps, decorated pumpkins, gourds, cut flowers, crafts or clothing.
The process is simple! The customer decides the amount of money they would like for the market day, swipes their card and enters their PIN. The authorization is instant. Market staff provides wooden tokens for the approved amount and customers spend their tokens at vendors throughout the market. If all wooden tokens are not spent, they can be saved for the next market day or returned to the main booth for reimbursement onto their EBT or Debit card.
The 2007 EBT Pilot Project was funded by a USDA Farmers’ Market Promotion Program Grant, received by the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-VT).
The framework of the 2007 EBT Pilot Project was developed after much research of existing farmers’ market EBT/Debit programs nationwide. Many of the documents educating vendors and marketing strategies were modeled after the Oregon Farmers’ Market Association’s Food Stamp and Debit Service Program.
The purpose of the Vermont Farmers' Market EBT and Debit Cards Project is to enable farmers' markets to accept bank and EBT (electronic benefits transfer) debit cards, thereby making local products more accessible to low income Vermonters, encouraging consumers to "buy local," allowing local producers to capture some of the $115 million in federal program benefits Vermonters are spending annually on food, and increasing overall farmers market sales.
Project Partners:
• George D. Aiken Resource Conservation and Development Council (Aiken RC&D)
• Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT)
• Northern Vermont Resource Conservation and Development Council (Northern VT RC&D)
• Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM)
• Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger (VTCECH)
• Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF)
For an application to participate in the 2010 Vermont Farmers' Market EBT and Debit Cards Project, click here.
For a complete Project description, click here.