Food stamps get an 'in' at farmers markets

Carrboro, Hillsborough, Durham markets try accepting EBT and debit cards

CARRBORO -- When Ristin Cooks rings up salad greens, carrots and tomatoes for the single moms on food stamps who visit her booth at the Carrboro Farmers' Market, she knows a little bit about where they're coming from.

Cooks, owner of Castle Rock Gardens west of Pittsboro, was once on food stamps herself and remembers the dirty looks she'd get at the natural foods store cash register. She wants the Carrboro market to welcome food stamp recipients.

"It's part of our mission as farmers to try to make the world a healthier place," Cooks said. "Not just for people who have a disposable income, but for everybody."

Carrboro's market, as well as farmers markets in Hillsborough and Durham, began accepting the food stamp program's Electronic Benefit Transfer cards under a pilot program last fall.

The program, which also allowed customers to use debit cards at the markets, took in only $4,195 in its first run, but organizers are optimistic that sales will pick up with better publicity. And they have plans to extend the program.

"Our organization, I think, is on the cutting edge of this stuff," said Robert Smith, executive director of the nonprofit Leaflight organization leading the effort with support from the state departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. "We have a statewide action plan."

The three markets are expected to continue the program through June 30 after their spring reopenings. After that, they'll have to decide whether to take on the cost of the program themselves.

"One big thing for the market is being cost neutral," Smith said.

Sheila Neal, manager of the Carrboro market, said it would cost the market about $4,000 in labor to keep the program going for a year. Someone must staff the central terminal where EBT and debit cards are swiped and hand out the tokens that those customers use to make purchases.

"The biggest challenge is how is this sustainable?" Neal said.

Still, she said, customers were grateful for the program. She hopes that sales will pick up when the market continues the pilot test this spring, typically a much busier time for the market overall.

Several other farmers markets have expressed interest in the project, Smith said, including the Moore Square market in downtown Raleigh and the Wake Forest market.

While accepting food stamps is common at farmers markets in states such as California, Rhode Island and Connecticut, none of North Carolina's markets accepts EBT cards as payment, despite the fact that many people receiving food stamp benefits live close to farmers markets. In Durham County, for example, a 2004 study showed that about 6,000 of the county's 9,500 households receiving food stamps are within four miles of the city's farmers market.