How to fix the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program in Shelby County, Tennessee

If you need some back story on the Senior FMNP or how how it has played out this summer in Shelby County, let me direct you to several recent bits in the local media:

Food Fight: turmoil at the Memphis Farmers Market exposes flaws in Tennessee's food-voucher system, Cover story in the Memphis Flyer

Josephine Alexander: Making the senior farmers market voucher program work, Commercial Appeal Going Green blog post

Wendi Thomas: Farmers market has ugly underside

Ready for some solutions?  Here are the concrete recommendations of GrowMemphis and the Food Advisory Council for Memphis and Shelby County:

Recommendations to improve the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program in Shelby County and the State of Tennessee.

The Problem:  There are insufficient retail outlets in Shelby County to serve senior citizens participating in the Senior FMNP.  The result is that many seniors must go through considerable difficulty to use their vouchers.   

Recommendations to the Tennessee Department of Health

Under the federal legislation, states have considerable leeway in how the Senior FMNP is administered.   Key changes in the way the program is run in Tennessee would both increase the number of eligible farmers, and make it easier for those farmers to participate in the program. 

1.     Allow farmers from adjoining states to participate.  For example, allow out-of-state farmers within 100 miles of Shelby County to be eligible.

2.     Make it easier for farmers to get trained by allowing for multi-year contracts with farmers and remote training, for example by webinar or video conferencing.

3.     Provide clear explanation of the criteria an applicant must meet in order to be considered a “farmer”, and work with farmers markets, which often visit farms on an annual basis, to conduct farm inspections.

4.     Work with advocates to explore certifying farmers markets in addition to individual farmers.

5.     Work with advocates to explore other barriers to farmer participation, such as financial losses from unpaid SFMNP checks.

Recommendations to the Shelby County Health Department

Work with farmers markets to conduct outreach for the Senior FMNP including, but not limited to, the following strategies:

1.     Schedule farmer training earlier in the season and hold the training at an easily accessible location such as the Agricenter

2.     Notify farmers markets of the training with sufficient time for markets to conduct outreach to the farmers that attend those markets

3.     Invite farmers market staff to attend trainings.  Seniors and farmers often have questions that market personnel are ill-equipped to answer

4.     Provide phone numbers for the Health Department in information distributed to senior citizens

Have an initial meeting with farmers markets and advocates by December 2011 to develop a time-lined outreach plan for 2012.