Issues of food security and food access often become heightened in urban areas due to extensive social disparities. This sheet provides information on identifying food insecurity, the role of urban farms in increasing food access, and details how federal nutrition assistance programs interact with urban agriculture.
What are food security and food access?
Food security is the extent to which a person or family has sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. Food access, which is part of food security, is the state of having sufficient resources (including money, transportation, and knowledge) to obtain foods to maintain a nutritious diet. Urban areas known as “food deserts” are areas where residents have limited food access due to their income, transportation options, and/or proximity to a full-service grocery store or other healthy-food retailer. These areas often have a higher degree of food insecurity than areas with better food access.
Urban Farms and Food Security and Access
Urban farms have been proposed by many scholars and practitioners as a way to eliminate food deserts and increase food access and food security in underserved neighborhoods. (see for example, Brown, K. et al, “Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States: Farming from the City Center To the Urban Fringe,” February 2002.
“The Promise of Urban Agriculture: National Study of Commercial Farming in Urban Areas” explores the commercial side of urban-based agriculture in 13 cities across the United States. (Rangarajan, A., & Riordan, M. (2019). The Promise of Urban Agriculture: National Study of Commercial Farming in Urban Areas. Washington, DC: United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Marketing Service and Cornell University Small Farms Program.)
Below are five ways an urban farm can help contribute toward increasing food access and food security in its surrounding neighborhoods:
- Community Gardening: community gardeners pay an annual fee to tend a plot to grow produce (and sometimes flowers, bees, or other products) for their own consumption, increasing household food security. Some cities and states allow sale of community garden produce, which might increase security/access more broadly, though the size of plots limits impact.
- Farming to supply emergency food relief centers (e.g. food pantries): some nonprofit farms grow food for donation only, or may receive operations support from food emergency food relief centers to provide fresh produce or other goods for customers.
- Donating Food: both urban and rural farms are in the practice of donating unsold food with a limited shelf-life to emergency food relief centers. Find a food bank near you through the Food Bank Association of New York State:
- Gleaning: Some emergency food relief organizations also have a gleaning program, where organization staff will glean fields after the farm staff have harvested. While this is a low-effort option for the farmer, considerations include liability for non-farm staff on-site, ensuring gleaners glean unsaleable post-harvest product only, and managing the organization’s expectations of participation. Read more about Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Gleaning Program here.
- Accepting SNAP, WIC, or SFMNP: USDA runs three prominent food assistance programs which are described in detail below, and a great option for urban farmers selling at farmers markets. In addition to increasing access to local food for consumers, accepting federal benefit programs at local outlets provides another income source for farmers and growers.
What is SNAP?
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps) is a federal assistance program which provides benefits to low-income households in the United States. These benefits are distributed via Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, which work like debit cards.
Farmers can now accept EBT cards at farmers’ markets, farm stands, and for community supported agriculture (CSA) memberships. Note that EBT cards can only be used to purchase foods for home preparation and seeds and plants for households to grow food. For more information about eligible items and the SNAP program, visit the USDA’s FNS website.
Accepting EBT Cards
The number of farmers markets licensed to accept SNAP benefits is increasing nationwide. Note that the guidelines below are for sites with electricity. For sites without electricity, the New York State Farmers Market Wireless EBT Program, administered by the Farmers Market Federation of New York, provides wireless terminals for the JP Morgan or independent POS terminals. For more information or to apply for this program, contact the Farmers Market Federation of New York at (315) 400-1447 or visit their website.
Many farmers markets also run nutrition incentive programs. In other words, farmers market managers will provide a monetary incentive when SNAP is used to purchase produce. These programs may look different at different outlets. At the Union Square Farmers Market in NYC, for example, when customers spend $2 on their SNAP cards, they receive an additional $2, up to $10/day. These programs can be impactful in increasing purchasing power of customers and may provide added income opportunities for farmers, too.
For Farm Stands or U-Pick Operations:
- The first step is to become licensed by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). Call the FNS at (877) 823-4369 to receive a paper application or apply online under the designation of a farmers’ market.
- Mail your application and all required documentation, including the application signature page, to the address provided in the application.
- Processing and approval may take up to 45 days. Once complete, you will receive a welcome packet from the FNS with your certification card. You will also receive a welcome packet from JP Morgan* and an application for a state-sponsored EBT terminal.
- Complete the JP Morgan application and mail it to the specified address. You should receive verification and manual vouchers (in case your terminal is or becomes temporarily inoperable) within 14-16 days. Note that farmers also have the option of having EBT cards added to their existing Point of Service (POS) terminals, though an initiation and/or monthly fees might apply.
*JP Morgan is a global financial services firm and works with U.S. state governments to accept and process forms and payments from constituents, including electronic benefits transfers. For more information, visit their website.
For Farmers’ Markets:
The USDA FNS website provides an overview of the steps required to take to accept EBT at market, grants that can help fund the program, and further resources. Here’s an overview of how it works:
A farmers’ market organization can become authorized as an EBT card retailer and accept EBT benefits on behalf of farmers and vendors in the market. Once authorized, the market may be provided with a single wireless EBT machine free of charge, as well as wooden tokens or paper scrip, training, and promotional support. For more information, please visit the FNS website.
At farmers’ markets, EBT consumers swipe their cards at the EBT machine at a market manager’s booth and receive a paper scrip or tokens. Individual vendors can accept scrip as currency. At the end of the market, vendors redeem their currency with the market manager for full dollar value.
Market managers will be asked to complete a farmers’ market EBT participation agreement and a service provider application. Farmers and vendors wanting to participate must also complete a participation agreement, to be submitted to the market manager.
The Farmers Market Federation of NY works to aid farmers and farmers markets in accepting federal benefits. For more information or to access their resources, visit the website.
GrowNYC also provides assistance. More information on their website can be found here.
For CSA Memberships:
Become licensed by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), applying under the designation of retail merchant. Call the FNS to receive a paper application at (877) 823-4369 or apply online at the website. Follow the same steps provided for farm stands or u-pick operations.
Note that members paying for CSA membership with EBT benefits may need to be provided with alternate payment schedules, such as paying on each pick-up date.
Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs (WIC and SFMNP)
The FMNP is associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and provides free supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, as well as to infants and children up to five years of age who are at nutritional risk.
Additionally, the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) awards grants to states, territories, and federally-recognized Indian tribal governments to provide low-income seniors with coupons that can be exchanged for eligible foods at farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and CSA programs. For more information, visit the webpage.
Farmers, farmers’ markets, and farm stands can be authorized by the State to accept and redeem WIC and SFMNP coupons. For more information about both, visit the USDA’s webpages for WIC and for SFMNP, or contact Darrel Aubertine (darrel.aubertine@agmkt.state.ny.us) or Kevin King (kevin.king@agriculture.ny.gov).
Additional Resources
Just Food’s Online Resource Center features additional tipsheets with information about FMNP, Food Stamps, and Health Bucks.
The National Association of Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs (NAFMNP) provides a space for farmers market managers to convene and discuss best practices, policy, and emerging trends around federal benefit programs (SFMNP, FMNP WIC, and SNAP/EBT). Their Marketlink program works to support retailers looking to accept SNAP at farmers markets.
