Healthy Eating for Lower-Income Families

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While some may think of farmer’s markets as places for the more affluent to shop, a recent trend shows more lower income families are getting on the healthy eating bandwagon!

Farmer’s markets have been frequented more by upper-income earners for some time, but they are actually often a cheaper option than supermarkets for buying quality, healthy produce in season.

The use of food stamps at farmer’s markets has increased by 600% since 2008, as more people of all ages, races, and income levels are beginning to realize the importance of healthy eating.

As more people discover the benefits of shopping locally and eating good food from known sources, hopefully this trend will continue.

Since 2008, when President Obama took office, the United States Department of Agriculture has made increasing low-income use of farmers markets and farm stands a priority. They’ve primarily done that through SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), better (and no longer really accurately) known as food stamps.

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Making it easier for people to use SNAP to buy produce and other goods has had just the desired effect:

Redemptions at farmers markets and farm stands totaled $18.8 million in the fiscal year 2014, almost six times as much as was spent in 2008….

Read the full article at ModernFarmer.com.

 

 

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